Chosen
by xXToxicValentineXx
Summary: Fern is raped and abused by her father and not a single other soul knows this. She's shy, and scared. So what happens when one night she's almost killed, but a stranger comes in and saves her life, a stranger that eventually becomes her best friend? Without her knowing it, he begins to break down every wall. But, is it enough to protect her from her father and her would-be killers?
1. Followed

**Characters:  
Fern- Mid-length wavy/loosly curled dark auburn/red hair. Hazel eyes (greenish-blue with dark blue rim). Pale. 5'3". Harper's best friend.**

Ivy- Mexican/white. Long layered, strait, shiney, soft, jet black hair that comes to her mid stomach. Dark emerald green eyes. 5'4". Willow's best friend.

Harper- Big loose curls in her dark golden blonde hair, sapphire blue eyes, cream colored skin. 5'5".

Willow- Dark brown wavey hair, violet-blue eyes, tan skin, 5'4". Harper's twin.  
  
CHAPTER 1!

Fern impatiently checked her phone for any missed calls or texts from Harper. She growled when she saw there was none. Harper and Willow, her twin sister, should have been here by now. Fern was waiting on the corner of two apartment buildings where they agreed to meet. Willow was indoubtedly the reason they were taking so long. She would spend hours in the bathroom getting ready, even thought she never touched her hair with anything but a brush. Her dark brown waves were perfect and didn't need to be altered. The only obvious difference in her from when she went in the bathroom and came out, was the mascara that perfectly went around her violet-blue eyes.

Fern began tapping her foot on the sidewalk. How long would it take them? The carnival in Central Park would start in a few minutes. The carnival would last from seven until midnight, and Fern planned on enjoying every last second of it. Of corse, it had been her idea in the first place. She asked Harper if she wanted to go, at first she was hesitent, but agreed. Harper asked her twin, and Willow agreed instantly to anything that involved getting to meet new boys. Fern wondered how it was even possible Willow could meet a new boy. Even thought it was New York, Willow knows a _lot_ of guys. Although Willow had never slept with a single one of them, she did love playing with them and stringing them alone. She knew she was pretty, and loved to take advantage of that fact. Willow had asked her best friend Ivy to come, and it took two hours of convincing. Ivy finally gave in, mostly just to shut Willow up.

"Where is everyone?" A girls voice, with a slight hint of latina accent, asked from behind her. Fern turned around to see a girl with deep mocha colored skin looking at her with questioning green eyes. Her strait, layered black hair fell almost to her mid stomach. She was wearing dark designer deniem skinny jeans, and a skin tight red tank top with a black leather jacket. She tapped her black heels in impatience, one hand on her hip. "Well?" She asked, a little more annoyed as she raised an eyebrow.

Fern shook her head. "Sorry, Ivy.. You just scared me." Ivy chuckled. "Yeah, that's not that hard. Where's Willow and Harper?" Fern shrugged. "I don't know, they were supposed to be here twenty minutes ago." Ivy leaned against the wall as she crossed her arms. "And here I thought I was the only one who was allowed to be fasionably late. They need to hurry up, I don't like to wait." Fern rolled her eye hazel eyes. "Yes, Ivy. We all know." Ivy shot her a warning glare, daring her to say it again. Fern just smiled and looked down the rode. "There they are!"

Fern was looking at two girls walking down the rode together closely, they were laughing and talking about God only knows what. Willow was wearing a loose white tank top that said "Young Wild & Free" in cursive rainbow letters with a palm tree in the background with blue jean cut off shorts that could be considered underwear. She had on pink flip flops, each with a yellow flower on the side strap. The girl walking next to her had big and loose dark golden curls for hair, and her dark blue eyes glittered with excitment. Her cream colored skin was glowing, letting Fern know she had recently showered tonight. She was wearing a button up pale blue collered shirt with a black tie, she had on white jean shorts with a black belt. Her black flip flops made a "plop" noise every time she stepped.

"Harper!" Fern yelled as she ran up to the girl, throwing her arms around her neck. Harper laughed, hugging her back. "Dang girl, you just saw me four hours ago." Fern smiled, pulling away to look at her best friend. "I know, but we've been waiting for ages!" Harper raised an eyebrow, looking past Fern. "We?" Ivy cleared her throat walking up slowly to them. "Yeah, we." Willow laughed at her best friend. "Well Ivy, it looks like for once you weren't the last one here!" Ivy smirked. "Yeah, for once I was waiting on someone else, and I didn't like it. Let's not make it a habbit, okay Willow?" It wasn't a question, everyone knew it. Willow was probably the only one in the group that wasn't the least bit intimidated by Ivy. "I'll work on that." Ivy just smiled lazily, letting her know that she better work on it.

Fern cleared her thoat. "Well, are you girls ready? The fireworks start at nine, and I want to at least walk around a little bit first!" Fern held both her hands together, letting them hand down in front of her. She had a big, innocent smile on her face. Her mid length loosly curled dark red hair went to her mid chest, her hazel eyes were glowing with excitement. The girls just didn't have the heart to tell her no. Harper walked up to her best friend, smiling. "Alright Fern, lead the way!"

The carnival was a lot bigger than expected. The midway was about half a mile big. There was a ferris wheel, and a few other miniture rides, most of them for little kids. There were lights hanging from the trees around them, making Central Park almost glow. Although none of them spoke it out loud, the girls were amazed at what they saw. Twords the back of the carnival there was tables and stands where they were setting up for the firework show. Ivy rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Nothing says 'Amercia' like 'Let's all get drunk and play with explosives!" All the girls laughed. Even Ivy smiled at her own sarcastic joke.

Fern was wondering what she wanted to do first, when something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looked over and saw a man dressed in an overly sized trench coat leaning against a midway game with his arms crossed. It looked as though he was looking at them, but Fern couldn't be certain because the hat he wore completely covered his face with a shadow. It sent shivers down Fern's spine, it was just plain creepy. The creepy trench coat man left her mind when a tall boy with blonde hair and brown eyes in blue jeans and an white t shirt walked up to them smiling.

Her heart almost stopped, and when he stopped in front of them she couldn't help but smile and say shyly, "Hey Tommy." He didn't reply, only looking down at her giving her a half hearted smile. He immediately turned his attention to another girl in the group. "Hey Ivy, what's up?" Ivy raised an eyebrow. If it had been any other guy, she would have replied and flirted back just for the heck of it. But this was Tommy, the guy Fern has had a crush on for almost a year. She crossed her arms. "I don't believe I was the one who said hi to you, Tomster." His smile faded, not even taking a glance at Fern. He made a face. "Guess I'll see you later.." He turned to walk away, but he wasn't quite out of ear when Ivy replied, "I wouldn't count on it."

Fern felt her heart sink. She's only had three crushes in her life, and every single one of them hadn't returned the feelings. They always looked right past her, strait to either Willow or Ivy, and sometimes even Harper. Fern knew Willow nor Ivy were the least interested in a serious relationship, which is one reason they got along so well despite Ivy's constant sarcasm and attitude. Fern and Harper on the other hand, secrelty yerned for that special someone to come along and change their life, making them feel important.

Fern pushed the thought away. Tonight was not about boys, it was about having fun with her three best friends. It was the 4th of July, it was supposed to be a fun night. Not even a hurting heart would stop Fern from having fun. "Sorry, kid." Ivy said, looking at Fern. She smiled up at her. "It's okay, it always happens. Guess I should be used to it." Before they could say anything to comfort her, she began to walk off. She hadn't realized how true her words really were. She _should_ be used to it by now. There was not a single guy who even glanced her way twice. She was just a short red headed shy little girl who hda only three gorgeous friends. No guy would pay attention to her.

She felt her nose and eyes begin to sting as she faught back tears as she continued to walk. _No, don't cry. Not now, not in front of all these people. Get over it, he's just a boy! _She continued fighting tears when suddenly a voice caught her attention. "Hey little lady, wanna try to toss these rings around the bottles?" She turned to the carny, who had a sweet smile on his face. She had a secret fear of carnies and clowns, or anything near that aspect. She shook her head slowly.

"Oh, come on? Look at all these nice prizes! A cute little girl like you must have a boyfriend or older brother than can win something for you!" Her eyes scanned the prizes. They landed on the next to last one on the top row. It was a big green bear with a blue polka dotted bow tie. It wes probably two feet tall, and a little fluffy. The bear was smiling brightly, and she smiled back at him. She shook her head again at the carny. "Actually, I don't. I can't throw, either. Besides, I didn't bring money." He smiled gently. "Okay, how about one free try? You get three rings around a bottle, and that nice green bear you're looking at is yours!" She was about to turn him down, but then thought. _Hell, why not?_

"Alright.." The carny clapped, then handed her five red rings. "Okay," he began, "The bottles are going to be moving in different dirrections, just get three rings around a bottle, and you win!" He was obviously trying to make it sound easy, but it clearly wasn't. She sighed, then threw the first ring. It missed. She immediately wanted to just throw the rings down and run, she knew people were watching her, which made her even more nervous. The carny saw this and patted her shoulder. "You still have four more rings, you can do it!"

Fern took a deep breath, calming herself. _I can do this. _She closed her eyes and threw the next ring. There was a dinging sound, and her eyes flew open to see the ring had landed right on the neck of a root beer bottle. She smiled big as the carny said, "See, it's not that hard!" She threw the next ring, and missed. She still had two more rings, and still a chance to win. She threw the fourth ring, and made it! Her excitment was boiling over and she held the last ring in her hand. It was the only thing standing between her and victory. She paused, then threw it.

It missed by a hair. It took her a moment to realize she missed, and her heart sank for the second time that night. The excitment that had been in her eyes instantly faded. They were dull with embarassment. Before the carny could say anything, she turned around and fled. _I should know better than to have thought I could win. _She brushed past the tables and stands with fireworks, and continues into the trees. She just wanted to be alone, she didn't even want to be with her friends. All they would do is try to comfort her, and she just didn't want that. Once she was out of sight of anyone, she sat down and leaned her back against the trunk of a tree and looked into the pond in front of her.

Seeing her reflection made her want to slap the water. She hated herself. Why couldn't she be as confident as Ivy and Willow? Maybe at least one guy would notice her then. Instead, every time she saw a cute guy she went mute, and ocassionly managed to get out a nervous hello. She pressed her knees to her chest, and lightly wrapped her arms around her legs. She wanted nothing more than to just dissapear right now. To just be somewhere far away, where no one knew her name. Where she could be someone else. Where she could completely start over.

"Look what I found, boys." Fern's eyes shot open and looked beside her where the voice came from. There was two men taking steps closer to her with wicked grins on their face. They were dressed in all black, and looked extreemly dangerous. She turned to run the other way, but there was another man coming from around that side of the tree. She was about to scream, but two things prevented it. One, the fireworks started right at that moment. If she screamed, no one would even hear her. The second thing, was her voice wouldn't allow it. She was in a state of shock, and couldn't speak.

"It's okay, doll. We ain't gonna hurt you.. Much." The guy by himself said. He pulled a sword from behind her, making her eyes grow wide in horror. _They're going to kill me. Oh God, no. This wasn't what I meant when I said I want to dissapear.. _She closed her eyes, burying her face in her legs. If she was going to die, she wasn't going to watch them do it. She just prayed they would do it fast, to prevent her suffering. She felt tears run down her face as she waited for the blow, but it never came.

She heard a loud smack, and then there was scuffles, then a man yelled, and then all that was heard besides the fireworks was the sound of feet running in the other dirrection. Fern slowly lifted her head to see what had happened. She gasped. The man in the trench coat from earlier was standing a few feet from her, watching her. She began to shake. "If.. you're going to kill me.. just.. just do it fast." Another tear slid down her face. The man didn't move.

"If I wanted you to be dead, I wouldn't have saved you, dudette." Fern sniffled. "Yeah, well maybe you wanted to do it yourself." He chuckled. "You're cute." Fern noticed his voice sounded like that of a surfer, or a skater. He sounded like a teenager or young adult, like herself. Maybe he went to school with her.. "Do I know you?" She asked nervously. He shook his head. "No, this is the first time you've met me." Fern thought for a moment, then slowly stood up. "Okay, so what's your name?" He didn't answer. Fern crossed her arms and made a pouting face. "I just wanted to know my saviors name. It's not like I'm asking you to take of the creep costume." She could have sworn she saw him flinch, but he still didn't answer her. Fern rolled her eyes, turning to walk away.

"Michelangelo." Fern stopped, then turned around. "Do what?" He laughed. "I'm Michelangelo." Fern smiled approvingly. "Michelangelo.. I like that, it sounds nice. I'm Fern." She stuck her hand out to shake his, but he never took it. Instead, he shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "Uh.. Wanna get back to the carnival?" He offered. Fern let her arm down, then nodded. "Yeah, I don't wanna be over here anymore." She began to walk back, and he followed. "Why were you anyway?" He asked. Fern shrugged. "I wanted to get away for a while, I guess.." He laughed. "You didn't get very far." Fern laughed. "Yeah, I know."

They went around the fire works being shot off, and walked over to the midway. "Why are you alone?" He asked. Fern shook her head. "Techinally, I'm not. I came here with my friends. But I kind of got upset and walked off.." She didn't feel like explaining to this stranger that the reason she ditched her friends was because a boy hadn't said hi to her. "I know, I saw that." He stated. She stopped, then looked at him and crossed her arms. "Ah, so that _was_ you. I thought so." She began walking again when he laughed. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Fern shook her head, smiling.

"And here you made me think you didn't have a boyfriend!" _Ugh, not him again. _"Wanna try again? You did great, I'll bet you'll win this time!" Fern was about to tell him to screw off, when Michelangelo handed him a dollar bill. "I'll have a go." He said. The carny smiled, and handed him five red rings. As he received them, Fern noticed he was wearing single mitted gloves. _That's odd.. In the middle of summer?_ She was about to ask him about it, when he threw the first ring. In less than five seconds, he had all five rings wrapped around bottle necks. Fern's jaw dropped and her eyes grew huge. "How did you.." "Congrats, you win! Which prize would you like?" Michelangelo paused, looking around the toys on the shelves. He stopped, and Fern almost gasped at the one he pointed for the carny to pull down.

Michelangelo received the big green bear, saying thank you. He turned to Fern, then handed it to her. Fern's cheeks grew hot. "Uhm.. I uh.. How did you know?" He chuckled. "Lucky guess." Suddenly a cell phone began to ring, and it wasn't Fern's. Michelangelo sighed, and took out his phone. "Yeah?... Uh, no I'm not at the carnival, why would you think that? Oh, you saw me.. I guess that makes sense. Whatever, bro." He hung up the phone. He turned to her. "Sorry, dudette. Gotta run." Before she could even say bye, he was gone. Fern stood there, shocked.

"Just _where_ have you been?" An icy voiced asked behind her. Fern turned around to face Harper. "I went for a walk." Harper looked at the bear in her hand. "Where did you get that?" Fern smiled nervously. "This guy.." Harper's eyes lit up, completely forgetting about the fact Fern had ditched them. "Ohmygod, what's he like? How'd you meet him?" Fern swallowed. "Well.. I was over by the pond, when these guys walked up.. They tried to uh.. Jump me." Harper stopped smiling. "_What?!" _Fern laughed. "It's okay, I'm okay. Luckily I was saved." Harper knew she was refering to the guy who had won her the bear. "What's his name?" She asked. Fern looked down at the bear. "Hmm.. I don't know. I haven't decided yet.." Harper hit her friend in the arm. "No, idiot. The guy who saved your life!" Harper looked into Fern's sparkiling eyes as she answered.

"Michelangelo. His name is Michelangelo."

Fern hugged the girls goodbye, ready to walk inside her house. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the blue beat up SUV in the drive way. _Oh no, he's home early. _She slowly walked up to the front door and walked inside. Her dad was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a bottle of vodka. He didn't say anything or even look at her as she shut the door behind her. Everything in the house was off except for the single lamp in the kitchen. She waited by the door for him to say anything, but he didn't. She sighed inwardly, ready to speed off to her room. After she took two steps, he asked her,"Where were you?"

Fern swallowed nervously. "I was at the carnival.." He still didn't look up from the floor. "Who were you with?" Fern paused before answering. "Harper, Willow, and Ivy.." "Where'd you get that bear?" "I... I won it." He slammed the bottle so hard on the kitchen table, it nearly broke. He glared up at her. "Don't lie to me, Fern. Did a boy get it for you?" Fern shook her head, her turning to ice as he got up slowly from the chair he had been sitting in. He walked over to her, whispering. "Do you have a boyfriend, Fern? You know you're not supposed to have a boyfriend." He yanked thr bear from her hands and threw it. She made no movement to go after it, knowing that would result in him dragging her away from it.

His hand smacked her hard across the face. She gasped in pain, and pressed her hand to the tender cheek. She looked up at him from the floor she was now on. He grabbed her by her hair, yanking her to stand back up. "Get up bitch." She didn't look at him as he stared at her. "You know what this means, don't you? You've gone and upset me, now you've gotta pay the price." He grabbed her and she screamed, trying to run out the front door. He threw her onto the couch in the living room. "No, daddy no! Please!" He shook his head as he undid his belt buckle. "You know better, Fern." He reached for her pants button, and she tried pushing him away, which made her receive a hard slap, harder than the first.

She cried as he slid her pants off, then his. "I'm sorry, Fern. But this is how it has to be. You know that." Before she could do anything, he was laying on top of her. She cried as she desprately tried to escape to somewhere inside her head. She wanted to block this out. It almost worked, until she felt him slide inside her. She cried harder, it hurt. He began pushing as hard and fast as he could, to make it worse for her. _Make it stop.. Please, make it stop.. _She felt herself giving up all hope, when there was a crashing sound from the bedroom. Her father stopped, then got off her, pulling his pants up quickly as men came rushing down the hall into the living room. Fern looked up.

It was the same three men from the carnival, except this time there was almost ten of them. She began to sob worse. "They followed me.." She whispered. Her father turned to her. "You know them?!" Fern coughed. "They.. tried to jump me.." He glared at her, ready to beat her. "So you lead them here to _me_? You stupid _bitch_!" He charged at her when another shadow shot from the hall and grabbed him and threw him against the wall. It was too dark, so Fern couldn't see who had done it. Sounds of fighting broke out, they were getting closer to the couch. Fern got onto the ground and crawled over to the corner by the window. She passed her father, who was now unconcious. She got to the wall when something furry brushed against her fingers. She looked down and saw the green bear. She immediately took it into her arms, and coaward into the corner. She burried her face into the bear, trying to down out the sounds around her.

The fighting barely last over two minutes. By this point Fern was still bawling. Too much had happened tonight, First Tommy. The carny. The men almost jumping her. Michelangelo. She held onto the bear tighter, not wanting to think about what happened after she got home. She heard someone take a step closer to her, and she pressed herself closer to the wall. "Yo dudette, it's just me." Fern stopped breathing. _Michelangelo?! _Her breathing slowed down, and she looked up at him, and gasped.

Standing in front of her was a giant.. _turtle_? She saw him reach out a three fingered green hand to her. She stared at it for a moment, then he pulled back. "Yeesh. Now I know how you felt." She looked up at him. "Well.. That explains the gloves.. and the trench coat." He smiled down at her. His smile was warm and sweet. She noticed he was wearing an orange bandana across his eyes. From the corner of her eye, she saw her dad move in his unconciousness. She flinched, looking at him in horror.

Michelangelo looked from her, to him, then bacl to her. "What's wrong?" He asked. Fern just shook her head, still staring at her father wide eyed. "Mikey, she's scared of him." Fern looked up to see another turtle, this one with a purple bandana. Then, two more turtles walked up, all eyes on her and her father. Suddenly she felt like she couldn't breath, and everything went black. __


	2. Pizza And A Movie

The first thing Fern was aware of, was that she was sleeping on a couch that wasn't her own. Her couch was uncomfortable and bumpy, but this one was soft and smooth. There was a fluffy pillow under her head, and she was holding a second pillow cuddled in her arms like a toy. She moaned, not wanting to get up. She knew she had to, because she had to get out of where ever she was. She moved an arm, instantly regreting it. She was so comfortable, and sleep was calling to her. She wasn't sure how long she had been out, but she was still exhaused from the night before.

Flashes from last night were running through her head. She was seeing the lights on the trees in Central Park, she saw exploding fireworks, the carny begging her to play, the glare at her own reflection in the pond. She saw the men in black coming closer to her, a shining sword in one of their hands, she saw the trench coat man help her, then she saw him win her the bear. The last thing she saw, was the turtle in the orange mask standing over her and she heard his words from earlier saying, "I'm Michelangelo."

"Yo dudes, I think she's waking up." Fern froze. It was him. Michelangelo was here, she was where ever he was, and she knew she was safe. Then she remembered the three other turtles with glares on their faces at her, and how much they had scared her. She had to fight back a scream when she heard another voice.

"About damn time too. She's been out for almost three hours." He had a rough Brooklyn accent. Fern swallowed, then slowly turned her body over to look around her at last. She was in an apartment. It wasn't much, but it was beautiful in a simple way. She looked to her left to see the turtle in orange smiling at her, he was sitting in a chair right next to her. "Good morning, sleeping beauty!" He greeted her. She ignored it, and looked past him to see a turtle with a blue mask, standing with his arms crossed as he observed her. He didn't look mad or threatning, he just looked like he was trying to see if she was going to scream and pass out again, and maybe he was observing other things about her, although she'd never know for sure.

To her right, there was a turtle with a purple mask sitting in a recliner. He had a laptop in his lap, the light from the screen shining blue on his plastron. He was looking up at her, his expression unreadable. He looked almost.. worried. Fern looked strait in front of her to the doorway to what she thought to be the kitchen, to see a turtle with a red mask. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed and a glare with narrowed eyes that looked cold as ice. Fern flinched, knowing if she was to be scared of any of them, it was him.

She turned back to the Michelangelo, a terrified look on her face. Her hazel eyes grew wide with fear, and Michelangelo knew it wasn't because of him. The look in her eyes was pleading him to pretect her, to not let any of the turtles hurt her. Michelangelo almost laughed, it was silly for her to think they'd hurt her after they saved her life. Instead, he just simply smiled at the young girl. She looked maybe fifteen or sisteen, maybe. He cleared his through, deciding now was a good time to ask. "How old are you, little dudette?"

Fern was taken aback by the question. She hadn't exactly been prepared for any questions, but she decided to answer. "I'm.. I'm eighteen." He made a confused look, and looked her up and down. She knew exactly why. Fern looked like a little girl to most people. She had a small waist, and only a C cup bra, but to her advantage her hips popped out, giving her a great figure. Her face and heighth is what made her look younger. She had a childish face, big eyes and soft features. She looked almost like a little fawn that lost her mother. Michelangelo looked in her eyes again. "You don't really look it."

Before Fern could react, the turtle in blue smacked Michelangelo on the back of the head, hard. He flinched, saying "Ow!" as he placed a hand on the back of his now tender head. Fern's eyebrows creased as she looked up at the bigger turtle that had hit her friend. "Don't hit him, he did nothing to you!" The turtle raised an eyebrow. He obviously hadn't been expecting her to say anything to him. There was a laugh coming from the back of the room, coming from the turtle in red. "Ahh so she can speak to anyone but Mikey. Careful Leo, she might be a little fiesty."

Fern burried herself deeper into the couch and behind the pillow she had been cuddling with, instantly regretting what she had said. The turtle in blue just looked at her. "I think I'll take my chances." Suddenly the turtle in purple spoke for the first time. "Guys, give her a break. She's scared, and doesn't know what's going on." Fern looked over at him, a silent thank you in her eyes. The turtle just smiled at her, nodded once, and went back to whatever he was doing on the computer. Fern looked around at the rest of them to see if they'd say anything.

The blue turtle uncrossed his arms. "Do you ah.. Want something to drink?" Fern nodded slowly, and he turned to walk past the red turtle to the kitchen. Within thrity seconds, he came back with a glass of water in his hand. He slowly handed it to her, and she took it gratefully. She hadn't realized just how thirsty she was until the subject of a drink came up. She looked up into his brown eyes and smiled. "Thank you." He smiled back at her, but said nothing else.

"Guys, I think I found something." The turtle in purple said. Suddenly all three turtles moved over to him to look at the screen. They read for a few minutes, saying nothing. Michelangelo sat back on the floor and put a hand behind his head, shooting Fern a sympathetic glance at Fern. "That's a bummer, bro." Then they were all looking at her, holding the same look as Michelangelo. "What?" She asked, but they said nothing. She became impatient. "Well, what is it? It obviously has to do with me."

The one in purple cleared his throat, holding something silver up in his hand. "When those men attacked you in your house, they left this japenese ninja star behind. I took it, hoping to figure out who they were and what they wanted. I was more than luckly, but you aren't." Fern raised an eyebrow. "You're telling me I was attacked by ninjas?" Her voice clearly stated she didn't believe it. The purple turtle laughed nervously. "Yeah, kind of. But not just any ninjas." He turned back to the computer.

"It says here that the symbol on the star is that of an ancient japenese clan of skilled ninja assasins. Most of the time, they just find a person at random and plan to kill them. If the person escapes at their attempt, they become more and more determined to kill them each time." Fern stared at him. "Okay, so _now_ you're telling me I'm being hunted down by an ancient japenese clan that wants to kill me just because they feel like it?" Her voice was starting to crack. She didn't believe this, it couldn't be real. But how can she try to think anything isn't real when there were four giant turtles standing here talking to her?

She burried her face in the pillow. She couldn't believe this, she was now on a run for her life. "This is all my fault!" She cried into the pillow. She felt someone sit next to her on the couch, as a big and was placed on her shoulder. "No it's not, don't say that." Fern looked up at the orange turtle, tears swelling in her eyes. "If I hadn't run off from the carnival and gotten all upset, they would never have seen me alone.." She throat was hurting from the tears she was holding back. The orange turtle shook his head with sypmathy in his blue eyes as he looked at her. "No, don't blame yourself. Hey at least I was there to save you!" He smiled big at her.

Fern just couldn't help but smile back. "I know.. Thank you." He laughed. "Nah, don't think me. I'll always be here to protect you." Fern just looked at him, confused. Why? Why did he want to protect her? He barely met her last night, and they only exchanged a few words. Now here he was, risking his life to save her twice, and she had done nothing to deserve it. She could see from the look in his eyes that he meant it. He would always try to protect her from anything or anyone that tried to hurt her.

He cleared his through. "Well, I think it's time for introductions." He pointed at the blue masked turtle. "That's Leo, he's the oldest and our leader." Leo smiled awkwardly. Michelangelo then pointed to the turtle still on the computer. "That is Don, he's out little secret weapon. There isn't a single thing with machines or electronics that this turtle can't figure out." He looked up at her, giving a single wave before returing to his computer. Michelangelo then pointed to the last turtle. The one with the red mask. "And that hot head back their is Raph. If you think he's bad now, you should see him in the mornings when he first wakes up." Raph glared at him, but said nothing. Fern giggled.

"What's so funny?" Raph asked her with an irritated tone. Fern smiled. "It's just funny how you get so flustered over nothing." He just looked at her, unsure of what to say. The was the first time he'd seen this girl give a genuine smile, and he didn't want to be the one to ruin it. He just smirked. "You have no idea." Fern looked around her, still unsure of where she was. "Uhm.. Where am I?" She asked, not sure if she wanted an answer.

Leo stepped forward. "This is our friend April's apartment. She's out of town for a few weeks, and told us if we ever wanted to stay here we could." Fern nodded, not asking where they lived. She knew if they wanted her to know, they would tell her. "Okay.. So why didn't you just leave me at home?" Michelangelo answered this time. "Because we figured those mean ninja dudes would come back. And we saw they way you looked at your dad, you looked scared." Fern didn't move, or act like she even heard him. He paused, before asking, "Why are you scared of him?" Fern just looked down at the floor, and didn't answer. She didn't want to talk about it, because it would just make the nightmare even more real. Her best friends didn't even know, no one did.

"Mikey, I don't think she wants to talk about it." Donnie said. Leo crossed his arms. "Well all we know is that it isn't safe for her to go back there. Regardless if the ninja come back or not. I'll have to visit Splinter to see if it's okay for her to stay with us for a while, at least until this all blows over." Fern was about to object, but Leo put a hand up to stop her from talking. "No, we refuse to let you go home. It's not safe." Fern stared at him. "Why do you care?" She asked, standing up for the first time. "Why do you care if I'm safe or not? You don't know me, and what about the other people they may be after? I don't see you running to help them? What makes me so special? It's none of your buisness if I'm safe or not!" She was shaking, half from fury and half from fear.

Leo looked back at her. "We made it our buisness three hours ago when we saved you." Fern let her shoulders drop, knowing that she would never win this arguement. Leo turned to his brothers. "Donnie, Raph, you come with me. Mikey, you stay here with her and make sure she doesn't try to leave and no one comes after her." He put a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "If anything happens that becomes to much for you to handle, don't be afraid to his that panic button on your shell cell." Michelangelo nodded at his older brother. "I got this, Leo." Leo nodded, and left out of a window with his other two brothers.

Michelangelo turned to Fern. She was still looking away, a distant look in her eyes. He instantly felt guilty about asking her about her dad. He could tell he had his a sinsitive subject with her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring it up.." Fern turned to him, looking him in the eyes as she gave him a sweet smile. "It's okay, Michelangelo. I know you didn't." He cleared his throat. "Uh, Mikey. Call me Mikey." Fern nodded. "Alright, Mikey." She was still looking in his eyes. For the first time, he really paid attention to them. They were a greenish grey, with a dark blue rim around the edges. He saw little flecks of gold. He swallowed hard.

Fern had never noticed just how blue his eyes were until now. They were a lumanecent, almost glowing. They were a beautiful baby blue, like the color of the beach water at the bahamas. She didn't realize she had been holding her breath until she felt her lungs start to burn. "You wanna watch a movie?" He asked. She let the breath out, smiling as she nodded. She looked around nervously before asking, "Uhm, you have any popcorn or pizza?" His whole face seemed to light up. "Babe, we got both." And he was off to the kitchen before she could say anything.

She could smell the popcorn before he even brought the bowl into the living room. He sat on the couch right next to her, with a remote in his hand and the popcorn in the other. He set the popcorn between them as he turned the TV on. "I ordered a large pizza. I hope you're okay with canadian bacon, peparoni, and black olives." He glanced at her, hoping she was. She stared at him. "Mikey.." She whispered. He almost dropped the remote. He turned to her, worried. "Yeah?" She paused before continuing. "How did you know what I like on my pizza?" She had the most serious look on her face, which made Mikey bust out laughing. "Dudette, that's what I like on _my_ pizza." She slowly smiled at him. "Okay, but who's paying?"

He reached inside one of the pillows and pulled out a twenty. "April. She said this was for emergencies, but this is a serious emergency. I think my stomach is dying from hunger." Fern couldn't help but laugh at his sillyness. She adored him, he was so cute and funny! She instantly felt completely comfortable with him in that moment. He looked at her. "But you're going to have to go to the door to get it. I mean, I can't exactly show up at the door like 'Happy Halloween, dude!" Fern laughed harder. "Alright, alright. I'll pay for it." She was still laughing when the Netflix menu popped up. "What kind of movies do you like?" He asked her. Fern thought for a moment then answered.

"Oh, I love sappy romances with a lot of kissing and love scenes. Especially the ones with the endings that makes you cry." She fluttered her eyelashes at him, and he just stared at her like she had just asked to eat his head. Suddenly her face became crooked, and she started to give a smile that she was obviously fighting. Then she busted out laughing. "Oh God, you should have seen your face!" She was holding onto her stomach from the laughing pains. Mikey started laughing with her too. "That was a good one!" He stated. Once Fern got her breath back, she looked at him with a serious face. "I like action. But my all time favorite, is horror." She gave a wicked grin.

Mikey threw his hands in the air. "I swear, you're like a second me!" He went to the horror section, and told her to choose a movie. Fern thought for a moment, then said, "How about this, scroll through all the horror movies, and in our heads we'll choose three movies. Once you get to the end, we'll say the movies out loud and decide between them." He nodded, smiling. "That sounds like a great idea, dudette." Fern had secretly chosen The Grudge, Truth Or Die, and The Bride Of Chucky. Once Mikey got to the end, she said her movies out loud. Mikey smiled. "That's funny. Mine were Shark Night, Leprechon, and The Bride Of Chucky." Fern laughed. "Okay, so I think we know what movie to choose." Mikey put his hands behind his head and leaned back. "Yep, Shark Night." Fern hit him playfully with a pillow and he laughed. "I'm just kidding! We'll watch The Bride Of Chucky!"

About ten minutes into the movie, the doorbell rang. Fern hopped off the couch and opened the door. The pizza guy looked at her nervously. "Uh, I have a large pizza with canadian bacon, peperoni, and black olives?" Fern nodded. "Yep, that's me." She handed him the money, and in return he handed her the pizza and change. She shut the door, making sure to lock it before she went back to sit down. She laughed at how childish they both looked. There was a pizza sitting on the table in front of them, there was already popcorn all over the couch and blanket they were sharing, and Mikey looked about ready to jump out of his shell in excitment when he saw the pizza.

Fern sat next to him as he flipped open the box. They both breathed in the smell before each taking a slice. Mikey had ended up eating four slices, while Fern only ate one. That left three slices, one for each of his brothers if they wanted it when they came back. Fern began to pay attention to the movies. "I swear, Jennifer Tilly is so hot. I wish I looked like her." Fern stated. Mikey snorted. "Please, you want to look like a whore? I think I like you better like this." Fern just laughed. She did look like a hoe, but you had to admit she was still pretty damn hot. Fern cringed when Chicky ripped the guys lip ring out. "What's wrong?" Mikey asked. Fern shook her head. "I'm really squimish." Mikey raised an eyebrow at her and smiled. "Are you sure you're not.. _scared_?" He whispered the last word. Fer shoved a pillow in his face. "No, movies don't scare me. They just gross me out."

They watched the rest of the movie, constantly commenting on the good and bad parts. "I'm just saying," Mikey said, "If that were me, I would have grabbed Chucky by his hair and thrown him out of the van." Fern rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and in the mean time he'd shoot you in the face before you even had the chance." Mikey shook his head. "No, Chucky would probably shoot my leg or arm. He wouldn't kill me with a gun. He had his obsession with his killings being.. Original. A simple gun to the head wouldn't satisfy him. He prefers things like knives." Fern just rolled her eyes again and nodded, seeing no point in argueing with the turtle.

Fern felt a vibration in her pocket, and looked at who was calling. Harper. Fern took a deep breath, then answered. "Hello?" "Fern! Where the hell are you?! Your dad called us pissed saying he can't find you!" Fern thought for a moment, then answered. "Uhm, remember those guys I said that tried to jump me? Well, they followed me home." Harper gasped. "Ohmygod, are you okay? Where are you? Did they kidnap you?" Fern rolled her eyes, unaware that Mikey was now watching her. "Harper, if I was kidnapped I don't think they'd let me keep my phone." Harper sighed in relife. "Okay then, where the hell are you?" Fern shot a glance at Mikey.

"Remember that guy I told you that saved me?" "Yeah, his name was Mikehangdo or something." "Uh, it's Michelangelo, and yeah him. I'm with him, he saved me yet again." Fern could almost hear the smile on Harper's face. "Ooooh so when do I get to meet him?" "Uhh.." She looked at Mikey. "I'll have to talk to him about that." "Well, what about your dad? You need to call him and tell him you're alright." Fern's eye narrowed. "Tell my _dad_ that I'm not coming home. And if he asks where I am, you tell him I said it's none of his God damn buissness." Fern hung up the phone. Mikey just stared at her. "Your dad won't make you go home?" Fern shook her head. "He can't. I'm eighteen, I can leave if I want and there's not a damn thing he can do about it." Mikey nodded, turning back to the movie.

Although Fern was looking at the screen, she wasn't paying the least bit attention. She was too busy thinking about everything that's happened. What made those ninja's want to kill her? Donnie had said they choose at random, but why her? And why were these turtles going out of their way to help her? She had so many questions. She wondered how the ninja's had followed her home without anyone noticing. _Oh, they're ninjas. Duh. _Then she thought about the turtles. They had to have followed her home too from the way they jumped in to save her. So how had she not noticed them? She shot a sideways glance at Mikey, observing him. She noticed the belt he wore around his waist, which held a pair of nun-chucks. Her eyes widened. _Could they be..?_

"What's wrong?" Mikey asked. Fern shook her head. "I gotta use the bathroom." She set her cell phone on the tanle in front of them, and walked down the hall. "Last door on the left!" Mikey yelled. Once the door was shut, he turned back to the movie. Not five seconds later, her phone began to vibrate. He picked it up, and the name "Asshole." was popped up on the screen. Mikey raised an eyebrow, then answered it. "Uh, hello?" "WHO THE HELL IS THIS, AND WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?" It was her dad. Mikey instanly regretted answering the phone. "Whoah dude, calm down. She's fine." There was heavy breathing. "Who are you, and what have you done with my daughter?" Mikey cleared his throat. "I'm a friend of hers, and I don't think she'd want me answering any of that to you." He heard he dad growl. "You tell Fern that if she isn't home in one hour, her punishment from last night will be a lot worse." Mikey narrowed his eyes. "What punishment? What did you do to her?" There was a click.

Mikey cursed as he sat her phone down. Her father had obviously done something bad to her, but what? Mikey wanted so bad to try to talk her into telling him, but he knew better. He knew that she wouldn't talk about it until she was ready. He sat back on the couch, thinking to himself. _She'll tell me when she's ready, and I'll be here ready to listen to anything she has to say. I always will be._

Fern stared at herself in the mirror. Her red curls were now messy, but she kind of liked the look. She looked like of like the little mermaid and Kesha mixed together. She laughed at herself. She was still wearing the same thing from last night. She was in her white tank top, and in black it had an infinity sign that said "love" on the right part of the sign. She was wearing her pale blue skinny jeans and black belt. She noticed that her shoes were still on as well, plain black and white converse. She played with her hair a little bit, when a thought ran through her mind that made her heart stop and blood run cold. She shot out of the bathroom, running into the living room.

"They're going to go after them!" She shouted. Mikey looked up at her, confused by her sudden outburst. She was breathing heavily as she continued. "Those ninja guys, if they followed me home they saw my sisters with me! They'll go to their houses to see if I'm there! I have to warn them!" The was heading to the door, but before she reached it Mikey was in front of her with his hands on his hips. "No can do, dudette. You aren't allowed to leave this aparment." Fern was about to protest when a voice behind her stopped her.

"Mikey's right, like I said earlier, it's too dangerous." Fern turned to face Leo. Standing next to him was Donnie and Raph. Leo had his arms crossed, daring her to argue. She took the challenge with no second thoughts. "You don't understand! Their _lives _are in danger! I can't just let them die!" Donnie shook his head. "We don't know that for sure." Fern marched right up to him, inches from his face. She pointed a finger in his face. "You said that these ninjas will stop at nothing to kill the one they seek, and right now that's me. They followed me home last night, so they saw me with my sisters. Well now that the ninjas can't find me, what makes you think anything would stop them from going after my friends to get to me?"

There was silence for a moment, they secretly had known she was right. Fern sighed, taking a deep breath before turning to Leo. "If your brothers were in danger, and they had no idea that someone might be trying to kill them, would you not at least try to go warn them, even if it meant putting yourself in danger?" She looked into his eyes, and he looked back into hers. He nodded. "I would." Fern crossed her arms. "Exactly, I have to do this, so don't try to stop me." She headed for the door when Mikey grabbed her wrist. "Why don't you just call them?" He pleaded. He was scared to think she was actually about go out and risk her life.

She turned to him, a sad look in her eyes. He could tell she understood the risk she was taking, but it hadn't changed her mind. "If I call them, they'll give me no time to explain before they say I've gone crazy and hang up on me. I have to do this in person." She pulled out her phone, then dialed a number. After a few seconds, someone answered. "Harper.. Is Willow at home with you? Okay, tell her to call Ivy to come over there, I'm coming over. I need to talk to all of you. It's important... Yeah I know it's almost three in the morning, but it's that important, Harp." She hung up the phone, looked back at the turtles for what could be the last time, and walked out the door, shutting it quietly behind her.


	3. Protection

Fern walked quickly down the busy sidewalk, sure to stay in large groups of people. She was afraid to stray off by herself. She would never admit it, but right now she was down right terrified. As scared as she was about the ninjas finding her, she was more scared at the thought of losing even one of her sisters. She silently wondered if the turtles had followed. She hoped they hadn't, they'd done enough for her already. She didn't want them getting hurt for her, or worse.

She was just a block away from Harper's apartment. Her and Willow lived together alone, their parents were paying for the apartment. None of the girls had jobs, they hadn't needed one. Ivy, Willow, and Harper's parents all had great money, willingly sharing with their daughters. If any time Fern needed or wanted anything, her sisters, against Fern's will, would buy whatever it was in a heart beat. Fern tried keeping herself calm as she walked up the stairs to the third story apartment_. Please let them be okay, please don't let me be too late.. Oh God, please.. _After she rang the doorbell, her heart would beat harder with every second that past that the door didn't open.

After almost ten seconds, Fern feared the worst. She was about to break the window and jump in, when the door flew open. It was Ivy. "Hoslten, this had better be good." When Harper walked in, she could tell none of the girls had been to sleep yet. Their hair and makeup still looked perfect, and they were still in their outfits from the night before. Fern crossed the living room to sit in an empty chair. Ivy stood over her with her arms crossed. "You want to tell us why you feld off from your house, making your dad call us freaking out threatning to call the cops on us? Huh? You had us worried _sick_, Holsten!" Fern looked up at Ivy. Her voice was stern, showing how pissed she was, but her eyes showed how worried she had been. Although Ivy could be a real hot headed bitch, she was probably the most protective over her sisters.

Fern looked away. "Harper.. Can you..?" Harper nodded, then explained everything to Willow and Ivy. Ivy watched Fern the whole time, her expression was blank. Once Harper was done, Ivy took a step closer to Fern. "Stand up." She spat. Willow and Harper looked at Ivy. "Ivy, don't.." Ivy turned on them, fire in her eyes. "Shut up! Holsten, I said stand up!" Fern slowly stood up, terrified of the slap she was about to receive. She closed her eyes, ready for the blow. But what happened next caught them all off gaurd.

Fern instantly felt a pair of arms wrap around her so tight, it was like they were afraid to let go. Ivy held onto Fern, and Fern held onto her back. "Don't you ever do that again. If something like that happens, you call me and I'll gladdly come kick their asses. You hear me Holsten? Never leave like that agian." Her voice was winey, proving that she was trying not to cry. All the girls just looked at each other, shocked. Not once had they ever seen Ivy cry, not even when she broke her leg after the motor cycle wreck with Clyde.

After a few moments, Ivy finally let go. She placed her hands on Ivy's shoulders and looked down at her. "You had me so worried. I was scared." Again, the girls were shocked. Ivy never admitted to being afraid of anything. As far as the girls knew, there wasn't a single thing she was afraid of. But in that moment, an understanding past between them. None of them could loose each other. They were bound together as sisters, and needed each other to live.

"I'm okay, Ivy." Ivy let go of her and crossed her arms, instantly getting back to her tough girl act. "Thanks to this Michelangelo. Who is he?" Fern shrugged. "I dunno, I just met him tonight." Ivy raised an eyebrow. "You just met him tonight, yet you trust him with your life?" Fern nodded slowly. "He saved me, both times." Ivy let her arms drop. "Oh yeah? What if he's behind it all, Fern? Think about it, don't you find it irronic he was there to save you _both_ times? He's probably the one who wants you dead!" Fern shook her head. "Ivy, let's say he was beind it. Why on Earth would he go out of his way to send men after me, just to jump in twice and fight them off? It doesn't make sense." Ivy shrugged. "He probably just wants to play some kind of game with you before he finishes you off."

Fern shot up, and marched right up to Ivy. She stared dirrectly in her face, venom in her words as she spat, "Don't you _dare _talk about him like that. He's the _only_ reason I'm even able to stand here talking to you, he saved my life _twice_! Why can't you give him a _little_ credit instead of worrying about me thinking everyone's out to hurt me like some over protective parent?" Ivy stood, shocked at what Fern had just done. Fern was always the quiet one in the group, she never challenged any of them, and any time any of them insulted her or picked on her, she'd just smile slightly and stay quiet. Now here she was, for the first time in her life, standing up to Ivy like she was just a butterfly she could step on.

"Whoah, calm down Holsten. Okay, so he isn't bad news. But if he's such a great protector, why did you leave him to come over here?" Fern sat back down. "That's why I'm over here.. I think they're going to come after you girls, too." They all turned to her. "_What?" _Willow gasped. Fern swallowed. "They followed me home last night. Donnie, Mikey's brother, said that would stop at nothing to kill me now. I'm not stupid, I know that means that now, since they've lost me twice, they're going to come after you to get me." They all stared at her, and Harper came to sit next to her, setting a hand on her knee. "What do we do?" Fern shook her head. "I don't know.. I can't protect you. I can't even protect myself. I came to warn you, but that's all I can do."

Willow shook her head, pacing back and forth in her living room. "Why can't we just go to the police?" She asked. Fern looked up at her. "Okay, call them then and tell them ninjas are trying to kill you. See how well that goes over." Willow's shoulders fell. She knew Fern was right, they were on their own. "We could stay with our parents.." Harper began. Fern stared at her. "And indanger them? No Harper, _think_ about this." Ivy glared at Fern. "Think about _what_ Fern? That there is people planning to kill all of us, and you expect us to just sit here and _think?! _Fern, there's nothing we can do! And I _refuse_ to just run from this, I'll fight them bastards myself before I become chicken shit and run."

Fern nodded in understanding. "I don't know what we're gonna do, we just have to-" she was cut off by a crashing sound from right above her. She covered the back of her head with her hands as all her friends screamed. She was suprisingly used to the whole breaking and entering thing by now, so she didn't scream. She looked up to see around eight guys in the living room surrounding them. Ivy got into a defensive pose, and Willow followed her lead. Harper stayed on the couch, cowering next to Fern. Ivy's eyes flared with anger, and Willow's showed she was scared but determind not to go down without a fight. Willow and Ivy stood back to back, fists ready to punch any of them that took a step closer.

"Why are you here?" Ivy growled. One of the men smiled. "We were here for her, but I think we can add three more lovley girls to our list." Ivy spit in his face. "Get a life, freak!" He frowned. "I don't need one, since I'm about to take yours!" He went to pull a knife from his pocket, but before he could Ivy kicked him strait in the face and he flew back against the wall. "Not today, bastard!" Ivy screamed as three more men came at her. She punched one of them, sending him stumbling bkacwards, but the other two grabbed her arms, holding her back. "Let me go, you freaks!" she shreiked as she kicked and flailed in their arms. Willow looked at her, horrified as she realized she was the only one standing to defend herself. Two men started after her with swords in their hand, ready to ge their jobs over with.

Willow closed her eyes, ready for the final blow. It never came. Instead, she heard the sound of crashing metal. Her eyes shot open to see the back of someone standing dirrectly in front of her. It took her a moment to see the dark brown blolb on his back, and the fact he had green skin. "Don't you know it's rude to hit a girl?" He hissed at both men, he was blocking each of their swords with both of his. Willow backed up to the couch to get a better look around her.

She immediately looked over to where Ivy was still trying to fight off the now three men. Suddenly, anothe green and brown blob of color came up, knocking all three of them to the ground in one wack with whatever he had in his hand. He turned to the couch. "Fern, take the girls and go hide!" He had something orange wrapped around his face. He was fighting two men with what appeared to be.. _Nun-chucks? _Fern grabbed Willow and Harper, and dragged them down the hall to Harper's room. "Come on!" She yelled. Once they were in the room, she slammed the door shut behind them. She turned around to see that only Willow and Harper were in there.

"Where's Ivy?!" Willow was rushing to the door. Fern pushed her back. "No, she'll be fine! They won't let them hurt her." Willow stared at her. "Just exactly who is _they_, Fern? Or a better question, _what_ are they?" She remembered being confused by the green and brown blobs fighting off the men, but it had been too dark in the living room to be able to tell what they were. Fern looked around the bed room, avoiding the question, paying attention to the sounds of fighting still going on in the living room. Willow walked up to her. "Fern, you owe us the truth." Fern looked into her violet eyes, and knew she was right. They did deserve it, because it was Fern's fault they were all in this mess.

"They're turtles, Willow. Big, mutant turtles." Willow stared at her, confused. "So you're really telling us that we have two guys out there dressed up like it's Halloween while fighting off ninjas?" Fern shook her head impatiently. "No, Willow. They _are_ turtles. They're human turtles. And they're the ones who saved my life." Willow sat back on her sisters bed. "What?" Fern nodded. "It's the truth." Harper sat next to her sister, shaking her head. "I don't get it, why didn't you tell us?" Fern shrugged. "Would you have believed me?"

Suddenly there was a knock at Haper's window, and both sisters screamed. Fern walked over to the window and pulled the curtains to the side. It was Donnie and Raph. She unlocked the window and opened it. They climbed in the room, looking at the girls on the bed. Donnie turned to Fern. "You girls need to come with us." He turned back to the sisters on the bed. "Get as much things together as fast as you can, and I'm talking under a minute fast. Got it?" They nodded slowly, jaws still dropped. Raph glared at them. "Well hurry up, we ain't got all night!" The girls jumped off the bed. Harper began throwing clothes from her drawr into her backpack. Willow looked at the door. "All my stuff is in my room." Donnie walked to the door. "Well then let's go." She nodded, following him to her room.

Fern turned to Raph. "Uhm, is that safe?" Raph smirked. "Donnie'll take care of her." Fern just nodded, knowing she needed to trust them. She _had_ to trust them. Harper cleared her throat. "Uhm, which one is this?" She pointed at Raph. Fern laughed. "That's Raph. Don't piss him off, he's a hot head." She laughed at herself, using Mikey's words when he introduced his brother to her. Harper sat up, still nervous. "Ahh, sounds like Ivy then. I think I can handle him." Raph crossed his arms, glaring at them. "Who the hell is Ivy?"

Now that Fern stopped to think, him and Ivy were exactly alike. It kind of scared her a little. It would be bad to have two hot heads in the same room. At that moment, she was glad Ivy was in the living room with Mikey and Leo. Raph pointed to the door. "Is the the one out there in the living room?" He asked. Both girls nodded. He laughed. "She sure is kicking ass for a girl." Fern smiled, thinking that maybe Ivy and Raph would get along. Harper threw a bag onto the bed. "There, I'm ready." Her back pack was almost busting open from all the clothes she had stuffed in there. Raph raised an eyebrow. "You sure you got everything?" Harper shot a glare at him.

The bed room door flew open as Donnie and Willow returned. Willow had her bag too, stuffed almost as full as Harper's. "I'm ready." Harper nodded. "Me too." It got quiet from the living room, and you could hear feet rushing down the hall. Leo apeared in the doorway with Mikey. "We need to go, now!" Fern looked at them. "Where's Ivy?" She pleaded. "I'm right here!" A voice came from behind them. Ivy stepped forward with her arms crossed. "Two things. One, if we're going where ever you're taking us, I need to get some stuff from my apartment a few blocks away. Second, you have a _lot_ of explaining to do, Holsten." Fern almost blushed.

"Well, then who wants to take her?" Donnie asked. Leo looked at Raph, and Raph nodded. "You better make it fast." He said to her. Ivy shot a glare at him. "Don't rush me, lizard boy." Raph looked take aback. "Lizard boy? You little.." "Raph!" Leo stopped him before he could continue. Raph was almost huffing smoke. Ivy smirked at this, glad that he was getting butt hurt about what she had said. Mikey began to laugh. "Haha, lizard boy. Good one!" Raph turned to Mikey, lifting a fist. "I'll show you good one.." "Raph, you have a job to do!" Leo spat. "One I'm _not_ looking forward to." He growled. Ivy rolled her eyes. "Can't someone else take me?" Leo shook his head. "No, if you two were to get attacked by more ninja, it's better to be him. He's the best of us at fighting alone." Raph gave a slight smile, silently glad that his older brother had given him a compliment for once.

Ivy and Raph reluctently left, both against their own will. Harper stood in the middle of the room so close to Fern, she felt like if she was any closer they'd be sharing the same body. Donnie could tell she was still not sure about him and his brothers, so he took a slow step closer to her, holding out a hand. "Come on, we're just trying to help. You don't need to be scared." Harper shot a nervous glance to Fern, and Fern gave her a comforting smile and nodded. "You can trust them. All of them." Willow grunted. "Can we please get going? I don't know how long it will take for more of those ninja jerks to come back, and I _don't_ want to find out." Leo nodded. "This kid has the right idea." Harper slowly took Donnie's hand and he lead her to the window. "Why can't we use the door?" Harper asked. Donnie laughed. "We can't exactly just walk out in the open, now can we?" Harper nodded, understanding what he meant.

Mikey turned to Fern for the first time since they got here. "You alright, dudette?" Fern looked at him, and nodded. "Yeah Mikey, I'm okay. Just worried." He smiled, knowing that was better than a no. Willow walked up, looking Mikey in the face closely. Mikey leaned back a little, supprised by the sudden intrusion of his personal space. Willow narrowed her eyes. "So you're the one who saved Fern's life?" She aked. Mikey nodded. "Yeah, I guess." Willow stared for a minute longer, then smiled. "We all owe you our lives, thank you." Mikey smiled back at her, realizing he wasn't in trouble. Fern raised an eyebrow. Was he always getting in trouble? Everytime someone got to close to him, he would almost flinch like he got hit a lot. Fern frowned, knowing how it felt.

Leo cleared his throat. "We can do introductions at the lair. We need to _go_." Willow began to walk to the window after him. "Lair? What is this, a super hero movie?" Mikey smiled, and then flexed his arms. "Hey, we are your hero's. And I'd say we're pretty dang super." Fern giggled, grabing his arm to lead him to the window. "Yes, you are very super. But your brother's right, we need to go." He was still smiling as he followed her.

Ivy was walking on the sidewalk. It was still pretty crowded, considering it was almost four in the morning. Her arms were crossed as she would throw occasional glances at the roof where Raph was following her. She growled to herself every time she saw him. She could not stand that turtle. He talked to much trash for his own good, and she was going to show him not to do it around her. Within ten minutes she was at her apartment, she smiled at the familarness as she entered her front door. She quickly looked around to make sure no one was hiding, waiting on her. When she figured it was clear, she went to her bedroom. She grabbed her Victoria's Secret bag from her closet, and began putting all her favorite clothes into it. Once she was satisfied, she went to her bathroom. She began going through her cabinet, putting all her basic hygenic things in her bad. She doubted these turtles had toothpaste and face wash. She went to her bath tub, picking up her shampoo and conditioner.

"You done yet?" Ivy dropped the shampoo and conditioner into the tub. She shot around, pissed. "Did I tell you that you could come in?" She spat. Raph smirked, shrugging. "Did I ask?" Ivy huffed. "Rude ass." Raph laughed. "Pin head." "Asshole." "Bitch." "Dick." "Cunt." She took a step closer to him, throwing her bag on the ground. "Ass breath." "Shit face." Ivy was in his face now, only inches away from it.

"Freak."

She whipped around, giving him no time to reply. She threw her shampoo and conditioner into her bag along with her body wash, and turned back to him. "I'm ready." She said. His face was almost as red as his mask. _Ohhh he's pissed_. He walked up to her, pointing in her face. "You know Leo isn't here to stop me from kicking your ass." Ivy smiled sweetly, and fluttered her eyelashes. "You wouldn't hit a poor deffensless girl, would you?" She whispered innocently. When he started growling, she smirked. "Get that green sausage out of my face, and let's go before they miss me." She walked past him.

He caught up to her. "Don't you mean us?" Ivy opened her window, putting one leg out onto the fire esacpe, then turned to him. "No, I mean me." She smiled, then threw her other leg out the window and crawled down the fire escape into the ally way. Raph was right behind her. "Where to now?" She asked. He smiled, bending down and lifting a man hole. It took Ivy a minute, then caught on. "We have to.." She didn't even finish. Raph snickered. "What? Is there something that the Dear Ivy doesn't approve of?" Ivy glared at him, walking over to the man hole, ready to climb down.

Fern stayed close to the wall, afraid to fall in the sewer water. Even thought Mikey was between her and the edge, she was still afraid. "Aren't you grossed out by the water?" She asked. Mikey smiled, shaking his head. "Babe, after living down here for nineteen years, you get used to it." She nodded, still trying to get her head around the fact she was walking through New York's sewers with four mutant turtles. "How long til we're there?" She asked. Mikey stopped, and smiled. "We're already here." Fern looked around, seeing nothing but the tunnel continuing. "Uh.." Donnie walked up to the wall, and pulled some kind of lever. The wall split in half, revealing a secret door. The girls all gasped. Mikey laughed.

"Ladies first."


	4. Safety For Now

Fern gasped. What she saw was unbelieveable. Where they lived didn't even look like the sewers anymore. It was amazing, and to say the least, breathtaking. She took a step forward, and the first thing she noticed was the entertainment center. There was around fifteen TVs set up to play the role of one big screen TV. She looked at Mikey's smile when he saw her looking at it, knowing that this must have been his idea. Fern giggled, not having the heart to tell him the effect he was looking for just wouldn't work. There was a couch and two recliners set up in front of the TVs, with a coffee table set in front of them. It looked just like a living room in a normal house, minus the fifteen TVs.

Harper looked around in just as much astonishment as her best friend. Fern laughed at her big eyes, taking in every detail that she could. Harper walked right past Fern. "This place is _amazing_." She saw something sitting on the coffee table and bent next to it, looking at the guys asking something that Willow nor Fern understood. Donnie walked up next to her, confused. "How did you know what this was?" Harper's face turned red and she sat on the couch and shrugged. "I dunno, musta read it somewhere I guess." Donnie just put his hands on his hips and went *hmph.* Fern knew that Harper was a nerd when it came to anything with computers, so she knew it was some kind of weird tencho gadget. Fern said nothing, knowing Harper hated admitting she could be a total nerd.

Fern went and sat down next to her, and Willow followed. Harper's eyes grew wider when she saw something else sitting next to the thing that she had pointed at a few seconds ago, and said something else that sounded foriegn to Willow and Fern. Before Donnie could say anything back, there was a laugh from behind them. "Let me guess, you read _that _somewhere too?" Everyone turned around to see Ivy in the doorway with her arms crossed, a smirk on her face. Raph was right behind her.

"That was fast." Willow pointed out. Ivy walked up to her, setting her stuffed bag on the floor. "You really think I wanted to spend any more time with shit face than I had to?" She pointed her thumb behind, gesturing to Raph. Raph grunted, giving her a glare, then went up stairs none of the girls had noticed until now. About five seconds later, they all flinched at the sound of a slamming door. Mikey put his hands on his hips. "Dang, what crawled up his shell and died?" Ivy flipped her hair behind her head and smiled. "Only his pride. He lost an insulting contest to a girl." She wiggled her eyebrows, then sat in a recliner. "Actually, the reason it was so fast is because my apartment is literally a block away from here. I just said that to piss him off." Donnie walked past her, opening a doorway to another room. "Mission accopmlished." He shut the door.

Mikey sat in the other recliner. "Try not to make him that mad when he's around me, dudette. He tends to take his anger out on my face." He emphasized his point by pointing at his own face. All the girls but Willow laughed. Ivy looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong, peaches?" Willow glared at her, she despised it when Ivy called her peaches. She only called her that because in first grade they met by Ivy "accidently" spilling her peaches all over Willow at lunch.

"Well am I supposed to be happy? I don't like this, Ivy. I don't like it one bit. We're running for our lives from guys who want to kill us just for the heck of it." Harper shrugged. "Well, technically we aren't running. We're hiding." Willow stood up. "No, we ran. What are we supposed to do? Run until they decide that we aren't worth the chase? I don't think that's going to happen any time soon. And just to make things clear, I've never been one to run from a problem. I'm one who faces her problem head on. But I can't do that, because it's hard to do that when you've got men threatning your throat with a sword." Ivy nodded. "Yeah, I totally get it. I don't run either. If someone wants to hurt me, I hurt them before they get the chance. Normally I would chase them down and show them not to mess with a girl, but I can't do that. It puts all of you in danger."

Leo nodded. "You're both right. It's too dangerous for you, but you can't hide down here forever. Right now Master Splinter is asleep, and he thinks only Fern is here. I'm not going to wake him up to tell him otherwise, because since you're already here it won't make a difference. He's going to have my head, but he's not going to turn you down. Now we just have to figure out where you girls are going to sleep. We figured Fern would just sleep on the couch, but now it went from one girl to four."

Mikey raised his hand, smiling. "They can have my room!" Leo raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "Fine, you all can stay in Mikey's room until we figure out something else. I think I have an idea, but I'll have to talk to Donnie and Master Splinter about it tomorrow." Willow looked up at him. "Who exactly is this 'Master Splinter?'" She asked. Leo looked at her. "He's our father, and our sensei." Mikey put a hand to the side of his mouth as if to hide his lips from Leo and whispered loudly, "He's a rat." The girls gasped and Leo shot him a glare. Mikey smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "Sorry."

Leo sighed, shaking his head. "I would suggest going to bed soon. Mikey, show them to your room." Mikey frowned. "What, we can't have a movie night?" Leo narrowed his eyes. "It's almost five in the morning, Mikey. By the time a movie is done it'll be morning. Because of tonight's events, Master Splinter said we can postpone our morning training session until tomorrow afternoon." Mikey smiled. "Techincally, isn't it already tomorrow?" Leo growled, then turned to go up the same stairs Raph had. "Just get to bed soon! Just cause we train later doesn't mean you'll get to sleep all day!" And with that, he was gone.

Mikey turned to see all four girls looking at him. He felt uneasy. He wasn't used to being around girls besides April. He hadn't felt nervous around Fern, she seemed to be just like him. But the other three girls were a whole nother story all together. "Uhm.. wanna get to bed then?" He asked. They all nodded, eyes half open. He hadn't realized until just now just how tired they were. He smiled, and lead them upstairs to the fourth door in the hall, there was a total of six.

He pushed open the door, and all the girls gasped except Fern. She'd expected his room to look like this. Alond the walls were shelves after shelves filled with comic books, action firgures, movies, video games, and even a few books. There were even a few posters hangiing in the empty spaces on his walls between the shelves, mostly of super heros. Ivy stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips. "How old are you, ten?" She snorted. Fern saw Mikey's face sink, knowing the comment had hurt his feelings. Fern elbowed Ivy in the side. "Ivy, that was rude! He's letting us stay in his room!" Ivy rolled her eyes then looked back at Mikey. "Sorry." "It's okay." Mikey smiled, but Fern could still see the hurt in his eyes.

Willow, Harper, and Ivy walked into the room, setting their bags on the floor. "Thank God he has a bunk bed." Harper sighed. Willow turned to her. "Me and Ivy will take the top bunk, you and Fern can have the bottom." All three girls nodded, knowing better than to argue. Fern shot a glance at Mikey, then turned back to the girls. "Uh, I'll be up here in a little bit. I'm not too tired right now," she lied. She turned around and shut the door behind her. Mikey stared at her. "You look really tired," he pointed out. Fern nodded. "I am, but I can't sleep right now. Too much going on in my head." He raised an eyebrow. "Uh, well alright." They both walked downstairs quietly, especially past the first door since it was Leo's room and he specifically said not to stay up late and to go to bed.

Fern got to the living room first, and sat down on the left side of the couch. Mikey plopped down on the other side of the couch, and pulled out the TV remote. "TV?" He asked her. She nodded, grabbing the folded blanket that was laying ontop of the couch above her head. She unfolded it over herself, then turned to Mikey. "Wanna share?" she asked. He shook his head. "Nah, I'm okay." Fern shrugged, knowing if he wanted to share he would have said so.

Mikey flipped through the channels, hardly paying attention to what was on. _ Dude, what's going on? I honestly didn't think I'd see her after that night at the carnival, but here she is sitting on my couch watching TV with me! _Of corse, he wasn't about to complain. He had four hot babes in his home right now, but still. This night played out way too many events than he even planned on. His intentions for tonight were to go to the carnival, eat cotton candy, and watch fireworks. Instead, he went to the carnival, saved a girls life, won her a teddy bear, saved her life again, saved her friends lives, and brought them home to stay for a while. Not to menchon that the girls were staying in _his_ room. Mikey smiled at this thought.

"What are you all smiles about?" Mikey looked over at Fern. He felt his mouth go dry. "I.. uh.." Fern smiled as she rolled her eyes. "You have gone through the same channels twice now, Mikey." Mikey shook his head, trying to clear it. _Okay, just pick something to watch. It's not that hard, dude. _By the sixth channel, he found one of his favorite movies and smiled, leaning back into the couch getting comfortable. He made sure the volume wasn't too loud, then set the remote down.

"Are you sure you want to watch this?" Fern whispered to him. Mikey stared at her like she just asked him if he liked pizza. "Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Yeah dudette, this is one of my favorite movies." He noticed her unsure look as she stared at the TV, wrapping herself tighter in the blanket. Fern looked over at Mikey as he stared at her, and saw a small smile form on his lips. "What?" She squicked. Mikey slowly shook his head, still smiling. "You're scared." Fern crossed her arms and frowned. "No, I'm not scared. I told you movies can't scare me." She stuck her tongue at him. From the TVs, a loud bang was heard as the girl in the van fell over dead. Fern almost screamed, but instead hid her whole self under the blankets.

She felt a shit on weight on the couch, and then the blanket was lifted slowly by her head. Fern, still cowering, looked up. Mikey was looking down at her, and she could tell he was fighting not to look at her. "You okay? I can change it." Fern shook her head. "No, it's okay.." "Well, then get out from under there." Fern swallowed, and slowly peeked her head out from under the blankets. She saw the people talking to the sheriff, and shrunk back down a little. Mikey rolled his eyes. _God, she's so adora... Wait, what? Shell, no. Don't even, dude. _Mikey looked at her, unsure of what to do. Something else must have happened in the movie, cause in that instant she jumped, and accidently landed right in Mikey's lap.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and burried her face in his neck. She was sitting sideways, so her legs were setting against his right thigh. Mikey felt his face start to burn. She was shaking really hard, and she was wimpering. "You're really scared, huh?" He asked dryly. She nodded, still holding onto him and refusing to look at the TV. "Why does this movie of all movies scare you so much?" She didn't answer at first, but whispered, "Because.. It's a true story." Mikey felt instant pitty for her, and instinctivly wrapped his arms around her lightly. "It's okay, we're in New York, not Texas!" He heard her laugh slightly, still unsure. She stayed held onto him for probably five minutes, before she actually _realized _what she was doing.

Her cheeks began to burn as she pushed herself off of him, landing on the couch right next to him, almost touching still. "I'm.. I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to.." Mikey shook his head. "Don't even worry about it dudette, you can cowar on me any time you want." Fern looked up at his sheepish smile, and just nodded. She stared at the floor, not even bothering to look at the TV anymore. The sounds were enough to freak her out. She felt an arm go around her as Mikey pulled her next to him. "You're okay, I'll protect you from psyco's with chainsaws." Fern laughed, immediately feeling better. She knew his words were true, he would protect her. He had proven that three times in one night.

Mikey watched the movie for about ten minutes before looking down at Fern to see if she was okay. He saw her eyes were closed, and her breathing was slow and gental, letting him know she had fallen asleep. Her skin was pale, and glowing against the light of the TVs. Her dark red curly hair fell into her face, almost completely covering her small button nose. Mikey had to catch his breath_. I doubt she knows how pretty she is, especially when she's sleeping._ He almost slapped him self, shocked at his own thought. _Dude, you're a turtle. You've got no chance, so don't even bother with it. _He looked back down at her, and all the tension in his face 's the harm in thinking she's pretty? Her and all her friends are really pretty. _But she's prettier, she looks so innocent.._

Mikey yawned, realizing that he was getting really tired. He sighed as he switched the TVs off. He looked down as Fern, debating wether to take her upstairs to his room with the other girls or not. He thought against it, remember her saying she would have a hard time falling asleep. She's had a long night, and he didn't want to wake her up since she was finally getting some rest. So instead, he snuggled up next to her inder the blanket and fell asleep in under two minutes.

Leo felt himself waking up. He was confused when he realized that he was waking up on his own, and not from Mikey's wake up call. _He probably stayed up all night, even though I told him not to._ Leo grolwed at the thought of his younger brother deliberately disobeying him. He was used to Raph doing it, but not Mikey or Donnie. Leo threw the covers off of him, and then stood up quickly. He opened his door and stepped out into the hall. He walked down the stairs, preparing himself to have to give an early morning lecture. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the scene before him.

Curled up on the couch together under a single blanket being shared, was Mikey and Fern. Mikey had an arm around her, holding her to his side. She had a hand resing on his plastron, and her head was laying on his shoulder lazily. Leo growled again for the second time that morning. He wasn't mad that his brother was sleeping next to Fern, but the fact he was doing it out in the open where Master Splinter could just walk out and see something like this in his own home, his own sons. Leo walked up, ready to give Mikey a rude but quiet wakeup call. He was already at the couch, about to pull the blanket off of them.

"Leonardo." Leo stopped. The voice behind him was quiet, but firm. Leo turned slowly to face his father. Splinter twitched his tail. "Come, my son. Let's share some morning tea." Leo followed his father into the dojo, then into his room through the slide doors. Splinter motioned for him to sit, and Leo did. As his father poured him a cup of tea, Leo cleared his throat. "I'm sorry about you seeing that father, I'll make sure it won't happen again.." Splinter handed him the cup of tea, and chuckled. "My son, there is nothing wrong with them watching a movie, and simply falling sleep on the couch together. Do not pester them about it." Leo looked up at his father, suprised. He thought Master Splinter would have been furirous, or the least to say embarassed by it.

Then a thought crossed Leo's mind. The only girl they've had in the lair was April. So Leo really had no idea how Master Splinter would react to the sight, but for his fathers sake he hadn't wanted to find out. Leo looked at him after taking a sip of the tea. He felt the warm tea and the scent of the herbs floor his senses, fully waking him up. He set the cup down, then looked up at the rat sitting in front of him. "Father, there is something I must tell you." Splinter looked at him, twitching his tail. "I already know of the other three girls, my son." Leo looked at him, shocked. "How did you..?" "There is not much you can get past me, my son." Splinter chuckled to himself, not wanting to tell his eldest son he only knew because he had seen Donatello in the kitchen earlier that morning making coffee, and Donatello had informed him then.

Leo looked at him nervously. "You aren't.. angry?" Master Splinter creased his eyebrows. "My son, why would I be upset? These girl's lives are in danger, and it is our duty to help those in need. Although, I would prefer it if you did not make this a habbit, Leonardo." Leo bowed respectfully. "Thank you, father. And again, I apologize." Splinter flicked his tail. "Do not apologize, my son. You should go back to sleep, you've had only two hours of sleep. Your training does not begin for another seven hours. You can not train properly if you have not had enough rest. Your mind and body will be weak." Leo stood up, and bowed one last time. "Yes father." And with that, he left to go back to bed, not realizing that he had still been extreemly tired.

Fern felt something underneith her shift, waking her up. She slowly fluttered her eyelids open, looking below her. She gasped, eyes growing wide. Her and Mikey had somehow ended up on the floor in their sleep. He was laying on his back, well his shell, and his arms were spred out on the floor. His mouth was wide open and his tongue was handing out of his mouth. Fern was laying dirrectly on top of him, her arms resting lightly on his plastron. They still have the blanket over them, and she felt herself blushing deeper than she'd ever had in her life. She gently pushed herself off of him, making sure not to wake him up. She slowly stood up, looking down to make sure he was still sleeping. The snores and tongue still hanging out told her yes.

She walked into the kitchen to see if anyone else was awake. When she walked in, she realized she was alone. She pulled out her cell phone to check the time, it was 12:47 pm. The back of her eyes were starting to hurt, giving her a head ache. She grunted, then rubbed them gently. "I have some tea that helps very well for head aches." Fern turned around, and bit back a scream. Standing in front of her, was a four foot rat. He was smiling at her as he leaned on the stick he used as a cain.

Fern took a deep breath, and calmed herself. _This is Splinter, their father. Just calm down. _"Would you like some?" He offered. Fern smiled shyly, then nodded. The rat chuckled, then turned. "Follow me, miss Fern." Fern followed him through a doorway she hadn't noticed until just now. Once inside the room, she looked around in astonishment. It was a huge room, mostly epmty. There was a mat that covered almost the whole floor. On the front wall, there was a huge glass case with weapons that she'd never even seen before. She continued to follow Splinter as he pushes a pair of slide doors open, allowing her to follow. He sat on a samll pillow, placed just behind a small coffee table.

Fern slid the door shut behind he, and went and sat in front of the table. The rat poured a cup of tea, then handed it to her. Fern smiled at him, saying thank you. She took a sip, then looked at him. For a moment he was silent, but then he spoke. "My sons tell me there is bad men after you and your friends, miss Fern." Fern swallowed. "Yes sir. They attacked me twice last night. It started when I was at the carnival, but thank God for Mikey being there to save me." The rat smiled at hearing the praise for his youngest son. He often heard praises about Leonardo and Donatello, and even Raphael at time, but hardly ever his youngest, Michelangelo.

"Indeed, miss Fern. My sons are always there to assist someone in need." Fern looked down. "Yes, I'm very grateful, but I don't understand." The rat looked at her, confused. Fern sighed. "What makes me, or my friends, so special? From the way it seems, your sons help people all the time. So why did they bring me and my sisters to your home? What made them choose to help us beyond just a normal rescue?" Her eyes were pleading, begging for answers. Splinter thought for a moment, before deciding how exactly to answer her.

"Miss Fern, my sons do help people all the time. I understand your concerns as to why my sons decided to help you and your sisters to this extend. I'm afraid I am unsure of the answer myself. My sons have only done this once before, our friend April O'Neil. That was when they were young and foolish." He looked up at her, his eyes soft. "I think it might have something to do with my youngest, Michelangelo. After saving you, he decided to make sure you got home safe. When him and his brothers saw the men break into your home, Michelangelo refused to just sit and do nothing."

Fern stared at him, astonished. _Mikey really does care.. _Her heart swelled at the thought. "Which leaves me to another subject." Splinter was conitinuing. "My sons informed me that you seemed afraid of your father. Miss Fern, are you afraid to go home, not concerning the men after you?" Fern swallowed as she looked at the floor and nodded. "Why, my dear?" Fern sighed, then looked back up at the wise rat. "My father is dangerous, sir." The rat nodded, respecting the fact she did not want to talk about it. He sipped his tea. "It is good to see someone get along with my youngest son. His brothers do not respect him, they baby him and even bully him at times. I'm afraid they have been starting to pay less and less attention to them as threw grow. For you see, as they mature into fine young adults, Michelangelo wants to stay as he is."

Hearing this made Fern sad, but she smiled regardless. "I like him the way he is, I don't want him to change." The rat nodded. "Neither do I. Even on our darkest days, Michelangelo finds a way to make us all smile. His brothers constantly pick on him, telling him to grow up. I just don't think they realize how much they need his humor and care free soul." They talked for a few minutes before he dismissed her. As she opened the door, ready to leave, he cleared his throat. "One more thing, Miss Fern." Hern turned her head to look at him. He smiled. "Just call me Splinter." Fern smiled back at him, then left his room.

She walked through the dojo and went back into the living room. The TVs were on, and Mikey wasn't on the floor anyone. Fern looked around for a moment, slightly confused. When she smelled pancakes being made in the kitchen, she smiled knowing where he had gone. She turned the corner to the kitchen to see Mikey leaning over the stove, pouring pancake mix into a pan. He had a radio plugged into the wall, and it was playing music not too loud, but loud enough. Fern had to fight from busting out laughing when she heard "Cherry Pie" by Warrant along with Mikey singing along and swinging his hips. Fern walked over and sat in a chair silently. After a moment and having her silent laugh, she cleared her throat to let him be aware of her presence.

His hips stopped in mid swing. He turned to look at her, his face turning red. He smiled shyly. "Oh, morning dudette!" She then noticed the white apron he was wearing, and she lost it. She doubled over, grabbing her stomach as the tears from laughter ran down her face. Mikey turned around completely, putting one hand on his hip and waving the spoon around in the air with batter still on it, dripping onto the floor. "You think that's funny, eh?" He asked, making a fake annoyed face. Fern just nodded, still laughing when a scent caught her attention.

"Mikey, I think.. I think that's burning." His eyes grew wide as he spun around, flipping over the now smoking and black pancake. He turned the stove off, and carried the pancake to the trash can. He sniffled as he gently placed it inside the metal can. He got on his knees, and bowed his head. "He was a brave little flap jack." He whispered. Fern felt another tear run down her face but she just couldn't laugh. It was so funny that she couldn't laugh. He sighed, then stood up and faced her, still wearing the apron. "So, shall we wake up the others for a late breakfast?"


	5. Just A Little Tipsy

_**A/N: Read this, I never make these so that means it's important.-. Okay, once it's after the scene where they're watching Cops, listen to Summer Love by Justin Timberlake, then Here's To Never Growing Up by Avril Lavigne, in that order. Those are the songs for this chapter. If you listen to them, you'll be more into the mood of the characters in the story. I'm working hard on this story, so give me some reveiws on what you think! Enjoy! (Hopefully)  
**_

__"Will you go get everyone up?" Mikey asked her. Fern shook her head. "I'll get the girls up, but you gotta get your brothers." He was about to argue, when he realized that she was right. His brothers would get mad if Fern went to go wake them on her first. A shiver went down his shell at the thought of Raph using his morning anger on Fern. "Yeah, you're right. I'll go get my brothers." He left upstairs, and Fern followed him. She opened the door to the room the girls were in. She flipped the lightswitch on. "Get up!" She received groans and grunts in objection. Fern rolled her eyes. "Come on, guys. Get _up_. It's past noon." Harper sighed. "So?" "Mikey made pancakes." And with that, all three girls were out of bed in ten seconds flat. Fern smiled at herself for a job well done.

Once the girls were out in the hall, they saw Donnie and Leo awake, rubbing their eyes and Leo yawned. "Where's Mikey and Raph?" Fern asked. Donnie pointed down the hall. Fern turned to see Mikey slowly push open Raph's door, a devious grin on his face. Fern knew instantly whatever he was about to do, that it was going to end _very _baddly for him. Fern began to run after him and object to the idea, when a hand grabbed her wrist. She turned to see Donnie, shaking his head and putting a finger to his lips, signaling her to stay quiet and not interupt. She looked past him to see Leo fighting with the small grin on his face. Fern nervously turned back to the door Mikey had entered, and swallowed.

For a moment, there was nothing to be heard. Then there was a loud _thud, _and a grunt. She almost jumped back when Mikey ran out of the room, Raph right behind him. "That's the last time you do that, you ass!" Raph was screaming at him as they ran around the living room. Mikey dove over the couch, Raph right on his tail. Not taking her eyes off them, Fern asked, "So what exactly happened?" There was a chuckle, then Donnie answered. "Just the usual flipping Raph out of his hammock while he's still sleeping." The brothers walked past the girls, not bothering to pay attention to the fight below them. It was obvious this was an almost daily thing around the lair, but Fern still felt unsure as she watched Raph chase Mikey around the room. He looked pissed, to say the least.

Mikey dove over the couch for about the third time, but Raph was ready for that. He dove right after him, and tackled the younger turtle to the ground. Mikey landed right on his stomach, with Raph on his shell. Raph grabbed his arms and pulled them behind his back, making sure to pull far enough to cause Mikey pain. Fern gasped. "Mercy! Mercy!" Mikey was screetching. Raph laughed easily as he released his brother. "That'll teach you." He growled as he walked to the kitchen. The girls began to head down the stairs at this point, still listening to the conversation going on in the kitchen.

"You know he's just going to do it again tomorrow." Donnie pointed out. "Yeah, but it still makes me feel better. The only reason I don't kill him for it is because he makes one hell of a breakfast." "Raphael!" Fern heard Master Splinter snap. Just before they rounded the corner of the base of the stairs, the girls looked at each other in confusion at the new voice. Fern cleared her throat to get their attention, then whispered, "That's their father, Master Splinter. And when you see him, don't scream or faint." Ivy rolled her eyes. "What could be worse than four giant turtles?"

As soon as they rounded the corner into the kitchen and saw Master Splinter at the table, Ivy gave Fern a look that said, _Okay, so that could be worse than four giant turtles. _Fern smiled at Master Spinter, and he smiled back. She went over a took the sit between him and Michelangelo. The boys looked between her and their father, confused as to why she wasn't even reacting to the fact he's a rat. Splinter chuckled. "I met her earlier, my sons. Fern is a very nice young lady." Fern smiled, then blushed as a pancake was set in front of her. She then realized just how hungry she was, and dug in. Her mouth began to water and she faught back a moan at how amazing the pancake was.

Once she was done, she turned to Mikey who was now on his fifth pancake. "Mikey, you really know how to cook." Mikey smiled sheepishly. People told him all the time he could cook great. Spinter, his brothers, April, Casey, and even April said the things he'd made that she fed to her friends they loved. So why was it now that the compliment filled him with pride, when he received this praise all the time? Fern waited for everyone to get done, everyone had at least two pancakes, making her the first to be done eating. Ivy was finshed next, then Willow and Harper. Master Splinter had only eaten two, but had taken his time. Donnie and Raph were working on their fourth, Leo on his third, and Mikey on his sixth. Fern wondered if this turtle ever got full.

Master Splinter excused himself from the table, and left back to his room in the dojo. Ivy waited until she was certain he was out of ear, then turned to the boys. "So I don't get it." She stated. They stopped eating, and everyone looked at her. "Get what?" Donnie asked. Ivy gave a simple half-hearted laugh. "Why do you guys wear masks, again? I mean, it's not like you're giant fucking turtles or anything." They all looked at each other, their expressions blank. Finally Mikey layed down his fork and turned to Leo. "You know, I think hot-head number two has a point." Ivy glared at him. "Hot head number two, what's that supposed to mean?" Mikey ignored her. "I mean, if we're fighting someone these masks don't exactly _hide_ who we are." Ivy's eyes widened in impatience. "Well?!"

Donnie shurgged, he ignored Ivy as well. "Well, we've been wearing them for as long as we can remember. It'd be weird to not have them." Ivy was getting more and more furious the more they ignored her. Mikey leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head. "They are really stylish." He grinned. Ivy shot out of her chair. "So are you all just going to ignore me?" She shouted. Everyone stared at her, wide eyed. "Well, what were you sayin' princess?" It was Raph.

Ivy shot her eyes at him. "Did you just call me.. _princess?!"_ Even though she had whispered it, you could hear them vemon in her voice. He smirked. "Yeah, got a problem with it?" Ivy's face was turning as red as his mask as she walked right up to him and put a finger in his face. "Actually, yes. I do have a problem with it, freak. Call me anything close to that again, and I'll personally pull you out of that shell, rip your nuts off, deep fry them, and make you eat them. Got it?" She spat. Not in all his years had Mikey seen the look on Raph's face that he had right now. If there was a look to describe the look someone would have if they'd seen a ghost, it would be this one.

As she turned to walk to the living room, he growled. "Alright." Once she was around the corner, he smirked and whispered, "Anything you say, princess." "What was that?" She asked, in a chirpy tone, teasing him. His face turned pale and he cleared his throat. "Nothing!" There was a snicker. "That's what I though, turtle boy." Raph's face turned into a scowl, and he gritted his teeth. "God she.. She.." Suddenly all the girls looked at him and raised an eyebrow, daring him to say one bad thing about her. He paused, then finshed, "She's unbelievable." He growled, then stalked off to his room. The girls smiled at each other, proud of their sister for standing up for herself as always. Fern secretly wished she had the strength Ivy did.

Leo stood up from the table, taking everyone's plates with him to the sink. "Well, it's time to train for the next hour. Girls, you can watch whatever you want on the TVs." Everyone nodded, then went to their said place. Ivy was setting in a recliner, and Willow went to sit on the other. Harper sat on the left side of the couch, and Fern sat in the middle right next to her. "So what are we gonna watch?" Harper asked cheerfully. Ivy grinned. "Cops." Harper looked disapointed, but didn't argue. They all knew Cops was Ivy's favorite show, and never had the spine to ask her to watch anything else.

"I want to be a cop." She thought out loud. Harper stared at her, shocked. "Why?!" Ivy rolled her eyes. "Oh don't act so suprised." When Harper kept her eyes on Ivy, she sighed. "I want to help the innocent people out there, I want to make a difference. Especially after everything that's going on with us. If we called the police right now, they'd laugh and throw us in jail for a prank call. I want to be that officer that listens and tries to help." Fern smiled at her. "Even the foney calls?" Ivy was about to snap at her, but couldn't. She could almost never snap at Fern. Fern was innocent, sweet, and shy. Kind of like a new born baby deer, or a baby rabbit.

"Yes, even the foney ones. I'd be able to stand twenty foney calls if that meant that one of them was the real deal and I helped." Ivy turned her eyes to the screen. "Awww she's gone soft on us!" Fern giggled. Ivy shot her a glare. "I most certainly have not!" Fern giggled again, but didn't reply. Instead, her and her sisters spent the next hour or so in silence as they watched the show only Ivy loved.

Fern almost fell off the couch in shock when Mikey plopped down next to her. "Oh my god, did I scare you?" He aked, a little worried. Fern shook her head, still shaken up. "I don't get scared." Mikey grinned. "That's not what you said last night." Fern's cheeks began to blush. He was the only person that knew she was terrified of that movie. She sent him a warning glare, telling him not to continue with the topic. She'd never know if he understood, because then all you heard was Raph in the kitchen. "I could really use a drink right now." Ivy's head shot up. "You drink?" She called to him.

She got up and went into the kitchen. He turned to her with a beer in his hand. "Yeah, what about it? Got a problem with that, too?" Ivy rolled her green eyes. "No, I drink too. I was wondering if I could get one." He scoffed. "Please, why should I let you have one." Ivy walked up to him slowly, letting her hips sway as she did so, she smiled when she saw this caught his attention. _This is always how I get the alcohol, it's so easy!_ "How high is your tollerance?" She asked, her voice with a slight edge to it. He smirked. "Higher than yours." She laughed. "Let's see about that, how about a drinking contest?" Raph raised an eyebrow. _God, this will be easy. Then I'll finally have something to rub in her face. _"Sure, let's do this."

Ivy turned to walked away, and grabbed onto the post that devided the end of the kitchen and spun around to face him one more time. "By the way, bring enough for three." She smiled, then winked at him as she walked away, leaving the turtle with his mouth half open. Ivy made a face, discusted with herself. _Oh well, I love me a drinking contest. And who knows, this turtle may actually show me some compitition. _Ivy sat back in the recliner, and turned off the TV. "Fern, drinking contest with Raph." Fern raised an eyebrow. "What?" Ivy nodded. "Yep, trust me kid. You need this." Fern looked unsure, but agreed slowly. She'd drinken a few times with Ivy, but she had never drinken in front of anyone other than her sister. She tended to act.. Well, you'll see.

Raph came around the corner with a whole twelve pack, setting it on the coffee table. He sat on the floor in front of the TV. "Alright, let's do this. Who's the third person." Ivy looked over at Fern, who was smiling shyly. Raph almost choked on air. "Her? You sure she can handle it?" Ivy grinned. "Yeah, I'm sure. Although, she will be the life of the party." Fern frowned at this, remembering how bad it was last time. "I don't know, Ivy.. Maybe I shouldn't.." Raph stopped her. "No, you should. I want to see this." Fern just looked away.

"Dude, if she doesn't want to, don't make her." It was the first time Mikey had spoken since Raph had brought out the beer. Raph glared at him, popping open a beer. "Shut up, Mike. This ain't your buisness." He reached over the table, handing the beer to Fern. When he saw she was hesitent on taking it, he wiggled his eyebrows. "Come on, you know you want to." _No, really I don't want to. But just to shut you up.. _Fern grabbed the beer, and Raph handed one to Ivy. After he popped one open for himself, he reached it into the air. "Bottoms up!" And with that, they all began to down the beer.

Fern almos threw up within the first three seconds. _God, I hate beer. _She didn't want to look whimpy in front of Raph and Mikey, so she finished the beer in under ten seconds, trying to get it down as quickly as possible. She noticed she was the first done, with Ivy in second and Raph last, which suprised her. Ivy grinned. "Dang Holsten, didn't know you had it in you." Fern just smiled nervousily and shrugged. At this point, Willow and Harper rolled their eyes and got up to go upstairs. Fern secretly wondered why Mikey hadn't followed, but didn't say anything.

Raph immediately handed another beer to each girl, grabbing another for himself. "Again!" And he put the beer to his lips. This time, Fern didn't rush to down it. By now, she pushed how discusting it taseted to the back of her mind. She was last this time, not minding because she had been first earlier. As she set the beer can down, she felt her head begin to spin. "Oh shit.." She mumbled. Raph looked up at her. "You can't tell me you're already.." Ivy interupted him. "She's only drank a couple times, she won't drink near as much as us. Only give her three more, and she'll be out of it." Raph nodded, handing Fern her third beer.

By the end of the fourth, Fern was feeling great. She began to dance to music in her head, swaying her head back and forth. "Whatchya dancing to?" Mikey asked from next to her. Fern jumped, grabbing her chest. "God, Mikey you scared me." Mikey raised an eyebrow. "I'm right here?" Fern smiled, then began to laugh. "I know, you always are!" She saw his face begin to turn pink, and she leaned forward, grinning like an idiot. "It's not a bad thing, I don't mind!" She turned over onto her back and layed her head back on Mikey's thigh. "You know, you're really green. I mean _really_ green." She whispered up at him, like it was some kind of major secret. Mikey grinned. "Really? I thought I was more of a purple." Fern frowned at this, shaking her head. "No no no, you're green. Diffenetly green."

Mikey couldn't help but laugh at how serious she was being. He had seen Raph drunk many many times, and he's even seen Casey and April get pretty hammered, but he had never seen someone drunk like this. She was blabbering on about nothing. "What's so funny?" She glared. Mikey laughed harder. She turned to the plant sitting in the middle of the coffee table, then lazily pointed at her, her arm and hand drooping slightly. "You were talking 'bout me agian, weren't chya?" She acused it. This time Raph, Ivy, and Mikey all began to laugh.

Fern turned to Mikey with a serious look on her face. "What did he say?" She asked. Mikey stopped laughing and looked down at her. "Who?" Fern pointed to the plant once more. "Him." Mikey smiled, then bent down to whisper in her ear. "He was making fun of you being scared of that movie." Fern's eyes grew wide as she turned to face the plant again. "You _bastard_!" She turned quickly, facing Mikey and crossed her arms over her chest. She stayed like that for a minute, then layed on her back once more. She looked at Mikey, then reached behind his head. His face grew hot, unaware of what she was about to do. He breathed a sigh of relife when she grabbed the ends of his bandana to play with.

"What, did ya think I was gonna kiss ya?" She asked up at him. Mikey's face turned buring red. "No! I uh.. I was just.. I just.." Fern looked up at him seriously. "Only on the night of our wedding." Mikey raised an eyebrow looking down at her. "Oh, we're getting married huh? Aren't I supposed to ask you for that favor, mam'?" Fern stuck her tongue up at him, and turned on the TVs. She flipped through until she found the music video channel. As soon as the next song began to play she shot up, grabbing Mikey's hand taking him with her. "Let's dance!" She suggested. Mikey looked at her. "I uh, don't dance." Fern rolled her eyes and smiled. "Yeah, me neither. Let's go!" She drug him behind the couch where there was room and began to sing along with song, stomping her foot to the beat.

"Singing Radio Head at the top of our lungs  
With the boom box blaring, as we're falling in love.." She spun Mikey with one hand.  
"Got a bottle of whatever, but it's getting us drunk  
Singing here's to never growing up!"

She threw her hands in the air, then pulled Mikey closer. Fern laughed at how red his cheeks were. "I didn't know the color green could look so red!" She pointed out. They got redder, she laughed harder. Once the chorus came back on she coninuted to dance around, spinning Mikey in circles on occasion as she sung along.

"Singing Radio Head at the top of our lungs  
With the boom box blaring, as we're falling in love..  
Got a bottle of whatever, but it's getting us drunk  
Singing here's to never growing up  
We'll be running down the street yelling 'Kiss my ass!'  
Saying 'Yeah, whatever.' We're still living like that  
Singing here's to never growing up!"

She danced her heart out until the song was over. Once she stopped spinning around, she had to hold onto the couch to keep from falling over. "Whoah.." Everything was a blur of color, she could hardly even make out Mikey as he rushed over to her. "Are you okay?" He asked. Fern shook her head, pointing to her stomach. Confused, Mikey turned to a severly drunk Ivy and Raph. "Take 'er to the damn toliet!" Raph hiss through slurred words. Mikey instantly picked Fern up making her nausea worse. He rushed her to the bathroom upstairs. As soon as Fern saw the toliet, she leaped out of his arms clumsily and threw her body to the side of it.

She began throwing up, trying to hold her own hair back, but failed because they were preocupied by holdong into the toliet sides. She didn't notice when the hair magically got pulled behind her head, but sometime right after she began throwing up it hand. After probably two minutes of throwing up, she finally stopped, shaking. She looked over to see Mikey sitting on the edge of the bathtub, looking at her wit worry in his eyes. He was still holding her hair back. He looked into the toliet and winced. "I don't think I can eat pancakes for another month.." Fern half smiled. "At least it wasn't pizza." She whispered, her voice hoarse. He shook his head, closing his eyes. "No, don't even give me that image!" Fern laughed, then coughed from the buring in her throat.

Mikey helped her stand up, then walked her over to the sink. "Here, use this. It should help. Your breath smells radical, and not the good kind." He handed her tooth paste and.. her toothbrush. She looked up at him, confused. He smiled. "Yeah, we forgot to tell you but we snatched you clothes and the esentials when we were at your house." Fern nodded, then gratefully took the toothpaste and toothbrush and put them to good use. Once she rinsed her mouth out, Mikey let her sit back down on the floor. "Stay here, I'm gonna go get you some water. Be right back!" With that, he was gone.

Earlier, Fern had felt amazing. She felt as if she could have taken on the world. Now she felt as though she had just gotten out of a war with one hundred men fighting just her. Her headache was getting worse, and she winced as she held onto it, burrying her face in her knees. Everything began to spin, and as she looked up it all went black. Then for the second time in her life, Fern blacked out.

_  
_


	6. Honor

Mikey walked down stairs to the kitchen to see Raph laying across the couch on his stomach passed out. Ivy was watching TV now, sitting in the recliner. She looked up at Mikey. "She's a hoot, ain't she?" Mikey half smiled. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." Ivy frowned. "You don't think she's funny?" Mikey thought for a moment, then replied, "No, I think she's hilarious. Just.. Ahh nevermind." He walked away into the kitchen and made the glass of water. When he walked out, Ivy saw the glass in his hand. "Ahh. Make sure she only takes small sips." Mikey nodded, then headed back up the stairs.

He slowly opened the bathroom door and said. "Hey dudette, I'm back." He looked down at Fern's body slumped on the ground, and his eyes went wide. At that moment, he began a complete and total what others would call a freak out. He quickly set the glass onto the counter and bent down next to her. He put is hands on her shoulders and started shaking her. "Fern? Fern, can you hear me? Fern!" His heart was racing really fast, and he didn't know what to do. What if she was..?

"She's just passed out." Mikey turned quickly, still in shock, to face Ivy who was now standing in the doorway with her hands crossed over her chest. "She could never handle that much alcohol. Just take her to your room, and since she already threw up it doesn't matter how you lay her." "Why would that matter?" Ivy chuckled. "Because if you lay a drunk person down they can throw up and choke or drown in their own puke and die." With that, she turned and left back to the living room to take a druken nap.

Mikey slowly and gently picked Fern up. He carried her bridal style into his room, and shut the door behind him. He turned on a lap that wasn't very bright, then turned off the room light. _I don't want the light to blind her when she wakes up. Raph always complains about light and sound with his hangovers. _He layed her on her back on the bottom bunk bed. He looked her over for a minute, then turned to walk out of the room. He was almost at the door when he stopped. Ivy's words ran through his mind again. "They choke and drown in their own puke and die." What if she wasn't done throwing up, and he left her alone and she..? He didn't let himself finish the thought. Instead, he pulled the chair from his desk and sat about two feet away from the bed. Mikey didn't leave her side all night, not even for dinner.

The first thing Fern was aware of was how bad her head hurt. It felt like someone had beaten her with a sack of rocks. Her stomach was screaming at her just how much it hated her at the moment. She moaned, then turned over, pulling the covers over her face. _Wait.. How did I get in here? Where am I? _Suddenly her face rubbed against something furry and she almost screamed. She stuck her hand out to feel what it was. For a moment she didn't recognize it, but then happiness filled inside her when she did. _The bear Mikey won me! _She pulled the bear close into her arms, turning back over to face the way she was. She burried her face into the bear as she smiled, forgetting about her body pains for just a few seconds.

"Glad to see you're finally awake." Fern's heart stopped, and her face flushed with embarassment. "Mikey?" She whispered. She heard him chuckle. "Yeah. Were you expecting maybe somebody else?" Fern laughed nervously. She couldn't see because the lights were too dim, but his voice sounded really close. "Well no I just.. Where are you?" She asked. She felt a hand touch her arm. "I'm right next to you. I'm sitting in this chair." Fern sighed. "How long was I out?" She asked as she sat up, flinching from her headache again.

"About six hours." Fern froze. _Six hours? _She looked to where his shadow was, her eyes were coming accustomed to the lighting. "Have you been here this whole time?" She asked. He didn't answer at first, as if not sure if he wanted to tell the truth, but finally did. "Yeah, I haven't left." Fern's face softened. "Not even for dinner?" She whispered. She could make out what appeared to be him shaking his head. "Not even for dinner, dudette." He whispered back. Fern could almost feel her heart melt. He hadn't left her side for six hours.

"Why?" Was all she could manage to choke out. He sighed. "Because Ivy told me that sometimes people can die.." Fern almost laughed. "Mikey, I only had four beers. I wasn't going to die." "Still." Fern couldn't stop herself from what she said next. "Come here." She couldn't see the shocked look on his face, but she knew it was there. "I.." "Come here, Mikey." She could hear his body shift, getting closer but unsure of how close to get. Once Fern was sure he was close enough, she threw herself at him and wrapped her tiny arms around his neck.

Mikey stiffined, unsure of what to do next. When he heard her let out a small sniffle, implying that she was trying not to cry, he wrapped his arms around her and sat next to her on the bed. They held onto each other like this for about two minutes before she finally spoke. "Thank you.." She whispered, letting a tear roll down her cheek. "Uh, for what?" She smiled. "For caring." He chuckled. "Don't thank me for that." He pulled back a little, looking down at her face. He could see better in the dark than she could, and he saw more than enough evidence that she had been and was crying. "Why are you crying?" He asked, a little worried.

Fern whiped her eyes with one hand, letting go of him finally. "I dunno, I'm just not used to anyone caring about me like this besides my sisters." He looked down at her, confused. "You haven't had a boyfriend?" He instantly regretted saying it as soon as the words came out. _Damn it! _He hadn't meant that he thought of himself in a boyfriend's possition, but when most girls say something like that they are reffering to a boyfriend. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean.." She stopped him. "No, it's okay. I know what you meant. And no.. I haven't." Mikey stared at her. "Why?!" She looked away from him, not wanting to look him in the eyes at this point.

"Guys don't like me, Mikey. I've had three major crushes my whole life, and none of them felt the same back. No guy has ever felt anything for me like that. Who could blaim them?" She finally turned back to him. He frowned. "Fern, just stop. You're amazing, funny, and you're really pretty. I bet guys were falling all over you, and they were just too shy to say anything." Fern shook her head, laughing. "Yeah, I wish that were the case." Mikey swallowed at his next thought, but didn't say it out loud. _Well, that's the case this time._

Ivy woke up in the recliner. She smiled when she realized she didn't have a hang over, like always. She turned to the couch to see it empty. Ah, so the turtle freak finally went to bed. _Better go check on Fern and see if she's woken up yet._ Ivy got off the couch and grunted. She was not a morning person, even though it was the middle of the night. Any time she woke up, she just wanted to rip someone's head off. She walked up the stairs, then into Mikey's room. She raised an eyebrow at the scene in front of her.

Fern was sitting on his bottom bunk, holding onto the stuffed bear that he won her like loosing it would cost her life, and Mikey was sitting only inches away from her, looking right at Ivy. "Morning!" He smiled. Ivy frowned back, and Mikey stopped smiling. _Okay, note to self. Ivy is just another Raph. _"She okay?" She asked him, still looking at Fern. Mikey nodded. "Yeah, she just has a nasty headache." Ivy smirked. "Least she's awake. There's some Advil in my bag, get her some. It's in the side pocket." And with that, she was gone.

Mikey walked over to Ivy's bad and opened the side pocket, pulling out two pills. He walked over to his desk and grabbed the bottle of water he had for when she would wake up, and went and sat back next to her. "Here, take this." Fern seemed to just remember he was there as she grabbed the pills and bottle. She made a face as she swallowed the pills with the water, then coughed once afterwards. "I hate pills taking pills." It was meant to be a joke, but Mikey didn't laugh. He was looking at her with a serious face.

"You didn't know you were the drinking type." He stated. Fern shrugged as she smiled. "Me neither." Mikey didn't return the smile. "Because you're not." Fern stopped smiling and just looked at him. "You didn't think I was funny?" He sighed, then looked away. "Don't get me wrong, I thought you were hilarious. It's just.." He looked at her. "You're just as funny when you're sober, when you're _you_. I like you better when you're you." Fern sighed, then smiled at him. "Me too, I honestly.. don't like drinking." He titled his head slightly, kind of like a dog does when it's confused. "Then why did you?" Fern shrugged. "I didn't want to seem.. weak."

Mikey rolled his eyes. "Fern, by telling them no would show strength. By giving in so easily, _that_ means you're weak." The look she gave him when he said that made him instantly regret saying that. She looked like a puppy that had just got kicked in the stomach. Her eyes were begining to water a little. "I know I am.. I just.. I can't help it.. Willow and Ivy and Harper.. They're all strong, and I'm not.." She looked down at the sheets in front of her. Mikey didn't say anything for a few minutes, he was thinking about how to word his next question. "Fern, what did your dad do to you that night?"

He saw her stiffen and her eyes get wide, but she didn't look at him. She just looked strait ahead. "What are you talking about?" She asked flatly. Mikey sighed. "When you were in the bathroom at Aprils he called, and I answered it.." He saw her flinch, but she said nothing. He continued. "He said that if you.. if you didn't come home.. Your punishment from that night would get worse." With this, she turned to where he couldn't see her face. She let the tears of fear falls down her face.

""Fern?" There was worry in his voice, he generally cared if she was okay or not. She wanted to tell him.. But she couldn't. She told no one, not even Harper. Talking about it only made it more real, and she wanted to pretend that it never happened. He did this at least twice a week.. And she wanted to pretend, even for a few moments, that it never had happened even once. "Fern.. Talk to me." He was desprate, he knew she was crying. He put a gental hand on her shoulder, and she flinched away. It hurt him, but he said nothing.

"He.. Hit me." She whispered. Mikey was silent, he didn't know what to say. Suddenly Fern turned to face him, tears streaming down her face. "You can't tell them!" She wimpered. "No one else knows!" Mikey took her into his arms, and felt instant pride. She trusted him. She just told him something even her sisters didn't know. "It's okay.. You're safe here. I won't ever let him touch you again." He whispered in her ear. He could feel her weak smile against his shoulder. "I know, Mikey.. I know."

He pulled away, then looked down at her. "Hey, we should go down stairs. Want to watch a movie?" Fern smiled, then nodded. He helped her stand up, and they began to head down stairs. He smiled to himself when he saw that she still carried the bear he won her in her arms. When she currled up on the couch, he couldn't help but sigh. She reminded him of a little girl. One so small, innocent, and young. As if no harm had come over her and she knew only laughter and smiles. He knew that wasn't true. She was broken on the inside, he knew that from the first second he saw her. She was like a piece of China glass. Beautiful, but fragile. He knew that she had already been dropped, broken into thousands of pieces on the floor. He planned on picking up ever piece and putting her back together, no matter how long it took.

He sat in front of the TV, pulling out a stack of movies. "What do you wanna watch?" "Cops." Fern and Mikey turned to see Ivy coming from the kitchen with a water bottle. "No, you watched that all yesterday!" Mikey protested. Ivy looked down at him. "Did you just tell me no?" She growled. "Yeah, I believe he did." Ivy whipped her head around to see Raph and Don coming down stairs, Harper right behind them. Fern looked at thme. "Where's Willow?" She asked. Don pointed to the dojo. "Talking with Leo and Master Splinter, I believe. I need to go get Leo, it's time for our nightly partol."

Willow took her second cup of tea with pleasure. It was nice to sit and talk with two people who were as calm as she is. "Willow," Master Splinter began, "I'm very concerned for you and your sisters well being." Willow nodded. "Yes, so am I." He looked her strait in the eyes. "I feel my sons will not always be there to protect you. I have an offer." Willow set her tea cup on the table in front of her, then nodded for him to continue. "I would like to offer to teach you and your sisters the basics of ninjitsu."

Willow blinked once. Twice. Three times. "Really?" The rat nodded. "Yes. If you are willing to learn." Willow cleared her throat. "Well, you see.. We took Ti-Chi and Karate lessons for five years.. So we aren't completely at a lack of knowlege of self defense." Master Splinter raised an eyebrow. "Well now, we'll have to see how much you know then." Just then, Donnie came in the room. "Leo, it's time for partol." Leo set his tea cup down then stood up. "We'll return soon, Master Splinter." When Willow got up to leave, Master Splinter stopped her. "Willow, I would like you to stay. Donatello, would you please inform the other girls I would like them to visit me as well? We have an important matter to discuss." His son nodded, then stepped out of the room.

Mikey stood next to Fern. "Sorry about having to leave, we'll watch a movie when we get back!" Fern smiled at him. Donnie came back out with Leo. He turned to Ivy, Harper, and Fern. "Master Splinter wants to see all of you." They all looked at each other, afraid they did something wrong. Ivy and Harper began to walk to the dojo. Fern turned to Mikey one last time. "Be careful." She said. He smiled. "I will." Fern smiled back, then followed her sisters into the dojo.

Master Splinter wasn't in his room this time, but standing in the middle of the dojo. Once all girls were present in front of him, he cleared his throat. "Girls, Willow has informed me you have had previous training in the martial arts?" All girls slowly nodded. He smiled. "Good, I would like to offer my assistance in training you in the art of ninjitsu." Harper and Fern gasped and Ivy raised an eyebrow. "That would be so _cool_." Harper gasped. Ivy smirked. "Yeah, that'd be nice." Everyone turned to Fern, waiting for her to give her answer. She shrugged. "I'll.. try." Splinter nodded. "Let us see what you know. Ivy and Harper, you are paired. Willow, you will be paired with Fern." The girls nodded, then stood in position.

"Willow and Ivy, attack your aponiets." Willow launched a kick at Fern. Her eyes grew wide, but she did a back flip to avoid it. "Very nice, Miss Fern!" Willow swung a punch at Fern and Fern ducked to avoid it. Fern spun her leg underneith Willows legs, attempting to knock her over. When Willow was still standing, her heart sunk. Willow flipped over her, then kicked her in the back. Fern landed right on her face. "Umph!" She groaned as she hit the mat. She looked over to Ivy and Harper, and saw that Ivy had won with no suprise.

Master Splinter walked up to Fern. "Miss Fern, you have great potential. You're magnifisent at the defense, but when time to stike you hesitate, not using all your strength, giving your aponient the upper hand. You must believe in yourself." Fern looked down, and nodded. He clapped, signaling for them to begin again. They practiced for what felt like hours when Splinter clapped his paws, telling them it was over. They all stopped, sweating and panting as they looked over to him. He signaled for them to follow him to his room. They did.

They nealed in front of his coffee table as he pulled a brown box about two feet long and a foot wide from a shelf. He set it on the table, and sighed. "I have decided on something." They waited. "The masks my sons wear, would you be interested in having one?" He asked. They all couldn't help but smile and nod. He smiled at this. "Very well. I have seen enough of your personalities to determine which color would be best for each of you." They looked at each other with huge grins showing their excitment.

"What's going on?" It was Raph. They all turned to see the boys had returned from patrol. Splinter smiled. "I have watched the girls train together the last two hours, and I have decided that they have earned bandana's of their own to show their honor and personalities." Raph rolled his eyes, Donnie and Leo just smiled at the girls in congragulations, and Mikey was grinning right at Fern. "That's so awesome, dudettes!" Splinter flicked his tail, telling them it was time. The boys stood quietly behind the girls, almost as anxious as they were.

"Willow." Willow looked up as Splinter reached into the box, pulling out a bandana. "Dark blue." He bagan as he stood in front of her. "It symbols knowlege, power, integrity, and seriousness. Your shade of blue and my son Leonardo's do not mean the same exact thing, but have the same basis. I know this is the color for you." He placed the bandana in her lap. It was deffinetly darker than Leo's. While his was a light blue, hers was just a normal shade of blue. She bowed her head. "I shall wear it with pride." He nodded. "Indeed you shall." He turned back to the box.

"Ivy." Ivy smirked, ready to see the color he had chosen for her. He stood in front of her with a black bandana. Ivy frowned. "Doesn't black mean evil?" She asked, extreemly offended. Splinter chuckled. "No, child. No color symbolizes evil. Black is a very special color to uphold. As you know, black is a mixture of all the colors. This means, that you hold charateristics from every color, as well as the main symbols as black itself. Which are power, elegance, formality, mystery, strength, beauty, and authority." Ivy smiled as he set the bandana in her lap, swelling with pride.

"Harper." Harper smiled as she impatiently waited to see what color he would bring out. In his hands he held a very pale pink bandana. "Pastel pink. It symbolizes love, friendship, happiness, energy, joy, and intellegence." Harper's eyes shined especially bright at the last word of praise. She smiled as he layed the bandana in her lap. "Thank you.." She couldn't hold in just how happy she was. This was a real honor.

"Fern." Fern didn't smile like the other girls had. She was nervous more than anything. What if he gave her a color that meant she was weak and scared? What if he said she didn't deserve one? What if he gave her one that meant she- "White." Fern came back to reality. He was standing in front of her with a bandana as white as snow, almost glowing. Her eyes grew wide at how _beautiful_ it was. "White symbolizes light, goodness, innocence, shyness, love, strength, and purity. One who holds white as their color is a pure soul, a soul that would never hurt someone intentionally. This my dear, is one reason when in practice you hesiate to relatiate. You must not be afraid to defend yourself, child." Fern's cheeks grew pink with embarassment as he layed the bandana in her lap.

"You will have to cut your own eye holes." He pointed out. Ivy looked at the bandana in her hands, then up at him. "Do this have to go over our eyes, or can we place it anywhere." Splinter smiled. "Anywhere you like, my dear." Ivy smiled. "You got scissors?" He nodded, then reached onto a shelf and handed her a pair of green scissors. Ivy got the bandana and tied it around her neck like a choker. She tied it together in a near bow, about three inches long. She cut the ends off so only an inch was left to poke out. She twisted the bow slightly to her right so that is wasn't dirrectly in the middle of her neck. "There, better."

Willow tied her bandana around her forhead, letting the tails hand dirrectly behind her head. She didn't want to disrespect Splinter by cutting the bandana's he had given them. Harper looked down at her bandana, thinking of how to wear it. She smiled, then tied her hair up into a bun. She fasined it with her bandana, and tied it into a big pink bow in the front, letting the tails hand from each side of her face. Everyone nodded in aproval at the girls chosen places to wear their bandana's, then turned to Fern.

Fern wanted to shrink and leave. She hated being the center of attention, and she didn't do good under pressure. She closed her eyes to think, blocking out all thought of the fact everyone was looking at her and waiting. After a couple minutes everyone had almost lost hope in her when her eyes shot open. She reach over for the scissors from Ivy. She tied the bandana around her forhead, but instead of tying it in the back like Willow had done, she tied it to her right side. Once it was tied, she got the scissors and cut all the way up the side of one of the tails. She set the sissors down, then braided the now three tails of the bandana. When she was done and tied the ends so two inches dangled freely, the ends were at the same length as her head, to her mid chest.

At first no one said anything, which worried her. Mikey was the first to smile. "Awesome!" Right after that, Leo and Don both smiled as well. Don gave her a thumbs up while Leo just nodded in approval. Fern pushed the fact that Raph gave no reaction, knowing it was nothing personal. She turned to Splinter. He smiled. "Very original. I like it." Fern smiled big, then turned to Mikey. He was still smiling at her. "You know, the white goes great with your red hair." Fern blushed, and for the first time in months, she felt truly safe and happy.


	7. Forming Bonds

It had been a week since they had come to stay with the turtles, and Willow had to agree that it had indeed been one of the best weeks of her life. Not because she was enjoying herself, but because she saw the effect the turtles were having on each of her sisters. Each one of them had bonded with a certain turtle, which was no surprise. Her twin Harper spent most of the day with Donnie in his lab, working on whatever crazy inventions and ideas he was coming up with. Willow knew Harper was a miniature genius in that small girls body, she just didn't like to admit it. Although why is the question Willow never had the answer to.

Ivy, without knowing it, was beginning to grow quite fond of the hot-headed turtle. Raph was just like her in every way. Neither of them were morning persons, so that was the time their arguments were the worst. One of them would throw some rude comment at the other, and it was on. The other would return it with a better smart-ass comment, and it would go on and one for about a minute or two, until Raph was out of comebacks. He would scowl and then storm off to his room. Willow noticed that he would seem pissed, but there was a light in his eyes when he argued with her that was not there any other time. When he would storm off, Ivy would show the slightest of smirks, and not the kind that she had when she won an argument. She enjoyed arguments with him, as he did with her. Although neither of them would admit that to anyone, much less themselves.

Of coarse Fern had taken to her knight in shining armor, Michelangelo. It was hard to see either of them without the other right at their side. If Ivy wasn't watching TV, Fern and Mikey would be sitting on the couch side by side watching what Willow considered to be horrible "comedies" and cheesy horror movies. Fern would just laugh at them, while Mikey would screech like a little girl and hide under the blankets. Fern would giggle at him, convincing him it's just a movie. Mikey would whimper, then come out from under the covers. He made something in Fern come out, some part of her shine, like none of her sisters had seen before. She was truly happy having him as a best friend.

Each of her sisters were showing different sides of themselves. Ivy was becoming less of... a bitch. Fern was slowly becoming less shy and quiet. Harper sometimes would slip up, saying something smart that made even Donnie's head spin. Willow spent most of her time in the dojo, training and listening to Leonardo explain the complicated but beautiful art of ninjitsu.

"When you spin on that kick, you need to let your energy flow through you." He was standing in front of her, small beads of sweat forming above his bandana. "Your mind and body need to become one." Willow stood strait. "You look tired." He laughed, and gave a half smile that looked like a would-be smirk. "I'm barely warming up." With that, he spun around, ready to kick as she had tried to do earlier. Willow did a quick back flip, his foot barely grazing just past her shoulder. Before he had time to get his body ready for another attack, Willow jumped forward again, wrapping her ankles around his neck. She easily flipped him over onto his side. With a grunt that escaped his throat, his shell hit the ground with a loud crack.

Willow jumped onto her feet, then looked down as he went to get up. He clenched his teeth as a sharp pain from the landing ran up his side. He looked up at her, standing to his feet. "Not bad.." He began, then went to throw a surprise punch. Willow caught his fist in her own, then before he had time to react grabbed his wrist with her other hand and flipped him over her shoulder onto his stomach. He felt the air knock out of him as he lay there for about 10 seconds, unmoving. Finally, he sighed, then pushed himself into a sitting position. One leg laid lazily underneath the other, and he leaned his body weight on his right arm, the other wrapped across his stomach.

Willow stared down at him, brown strands of her wavy hair fell into her face. Her violet eyes shown bright with pride. She was in a grey half shirt, showing all her stomach. She had a belly button piercing that he just noticed, it was silver with a blue gem in the center. The blue matched the bandanna tied around her forehead. Her black athletic shorts were up past her mid thigh, showing more leg than normal. She stood up strait, noticing that he was staring. She smirked. "Rule number one, never underestimate your opponent." Then she smiled. "Class dismissed." Leo's jaw dropped slightly as she used his own words against him. With that, she turned and began walking to the door. Her hips were swaying to the side with each step she took. She paused at the door, turning her head slightly but not facing him completely. "You might want to get a bag of ice for that bump on your head, Fearless." She walked out and closed the dojo doors behind her. Leo placed a hand on his head, and winced at he felt the bump he hadn't noticed was there before.

Harper crossed her arms over the back of the chair Donnie was sitting in and rested her head on them. "Whatchya doing?" She asked. He turned to her, smiling. "Oh, like you don't know." Harper looked at him with her big sapphire eyes. "What in the world are you talking about, Donatello?" She whispered. He smiled then shook his head as he went back to tinkering with the gadget he had been working on. Harper relaxed her head again. "Are you making a microwave?" She asked. He placed his magnifying goggles, then picked up a smaller hammer. "How'd you know?" He asked her. Harper shrugged. "I don't know.." He chuckled. "Well then what do you know about microwaves?" Before she could stop herself, Harper began to talk.

"Well they use microwaves to heat the food, that's how they got their name. I know microwaves are some type of wave that are sandwiched between radio waves and infrared radiation on the electromagnetic spectrum. In the case of microwave ovens, the commonly used wave frequency is roughly 2,450 megahertz, or 2.45 gigahertz. The waves in this frequency range are absorbed by water, fats, and sugars. Once they're absorbed, they're converted directly into atomic motion, commonly known as heat. These waves aren't absorbed by most plastics, glass or ceramics. Metal reflects microwaves, which is why metal pans don't work well in a microwave oven. It's also where the idea came from to use metal as the walls for a microwave."

Donnie had stopped working, and was staring up at Harper with his jaw dropped. Harper's cheeks began to burn with embarrassment._ Damn it!_ He stared at her, making her cheeks redder. "I, uh..." He shook his head. "How did you know that?" Fern shrugged, then turned away. "I must have read it somewhere I guess.." She stood up, desperate to escape the awkward situation. She turned, ready to rush out the door, when a large hand set itself right on top of hers. She froze, an odd sensation ran up her spine to the back of her neck. "Where did you learn that?" He asked, his voice soft.

Harper swallowed, closed her eyes, then turned to face him. She opened her eyes and stared at the ground. "When I was fourteen, I kind of did this experiment with our microwave.." She looked up at him shyly. He blinked. "And how did it go?" Harper laughed, just to ease the tension. "Uh.. An explosion in the kitchen that almost burned the house down.." At first, Donnie didn't react. Then a smile slowly spread across his lips, and he started to laugh. He laughed harder, and Harper frowned. "What's so funny?" He held onto his desk with one hand, his other hand on his knee.

"I just.. I can picture you.. Oh God, that's hilarious." Harper looked away, more embarrassed than ever. _He's laughing at me.. Just like when I was little, they laughed at me.._ He stopped laughing when he noticed that she was upset. He cleared his throat. "About a year ago, I was trying to make toast." Harper's head shot up, and she narrowed her eyes. "Are you really about to compare that to toast.." He put his hand up. "Let me finish." She stood, crossing her arms and let him continue. "Well, I was making toast. I accidentally forgot that I had put it in, and I came back in my lab to check some tests I was running. Well.. The next thing I know there's a loud bang in the kitchen. Everyone rushed in to see a bunch of black smoke and fire where the toaster used to be. I was banned from any kind of cooking after that, including just boiling water for tea." He had a serious face, looking right at her.

Harper didn't know what to think at first as she pictured the scene in her head. She pictured Donnie standing in the kitchen while his brothers went frantic to put out the fire, and the embarrassment he must have felt by causing all that trouble over two pieces of toast. She couldn't help it, she began to laugh. The smile returned to his lips as he laughed with her. After a moment to control his laughter he looked up at her. "See? It's funny!" Harper stopped laughing and couldn't help but look into his eyes after he spoke.

It was the first time she got a good look at them. They were a medium shade of brown, and seemed to have golden in them as well. It looked almost similar to highlights in someone's hair. They were just_ so_ pretty. Eyes like these were almost as rare as Fern's. Harper had always been fascinated by Fern's eye color, going on and on about how her DNA couldn't decide which color was dominant, so it lapped them all together. This is how you got hazel and multicolored eyes. That's the reason Harper and Fern had become best friends in second grade, because Harper had commented on Fern's eye color. Fern of coarse had no idea what she was talking about, just like the rest of the kids and even teachers in her grade. But instead of laughing and calling her a nerd, she smiled and told her thank you, knowing it was a compliment. It was the start to a beautiful and strange friendship.

"Harper, are you okay?" Donnie asked. Harper shook her head, coming back to reality. "Yeah, I..." She looked at him again, at those _eyes_, and sighed. "You're eyes are just so pretty." If it was possible for turtles to blush, that's exactly what he did. His cheeks turned a deep shade of pinkish-purple. His eyes grew a little wide, his mouth opening slightly. He didn't say anything at first, but finally found words to speak. "Well.. thank you, Harper." She smiled at him, she too was blushing at this point. "You're welcome, Donatello."

Ivy sat on the roof top, one leg bent up, supporting her right arm, the other leg laying strait out. Her strait black hair blew in the wind, and the smells and sounds of New York filled her senses. She smiled. _God, I missed being up here_. She had to wait until the guys left for patrol before she could even leave, she would not risk trying to sneak out while they were there. Leo and Willow would have her neck if they knew she tried to leave. Ivy just smirked._ They think they own me? I can take care of myself._ She loved Willow to death. She was her best friend, but sometimes the whole telling her what to do was too much. Ivy was the type to follow her own lead, not everyone else's.

Raph saw Leo cross his arms. "Where did you say you saw her?" He asked. Donnie pointed. "She's a few buildings away, sitting on a roof top. She's out in the open, she isn't even trying to hide!" Leo's eyes narrowed. "What the hell is she thinking?" He growled. He turned in the direction to which Donnie pointed, when Raph grabbed his shoulder. "Wait, let me handle this." He said. His brother turned to face him, shocked. "Are you sure?" He asked. Raph shrugged, then smirked. "Takes a hot-head to know how to deal with another hot-head." Leo was still uncertain, but nodded anyway. He didn't really want to be the one to deal with the fire-souled brunette, and Raph was more then capable of the job. When it came to slick words, Ivy was way ahead of him. But when it came to muscle and strength, Raph was at the top. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Leo nodded, then motioned for his brothers to follow him. Michelangelo walked up to Raph and put his hand on his shoulder, making an overly dramatic worried face. "Good luck, bro." Raph rolled his eyes as he shoved Mikey's hand off of him. "Just get back to your girl." Mikey poked his bottom lip out and put his hands on his hips. "She is _not_ my girl." He objected. "Mikey!" Leo yelled. Mikey shrugged, then followed after his eldest brother. Raph just smiled and shook his head. The kid's gotta learn someday..

Ivy reached into her pocket to pull out her phone and headphones. She plugged in the headphone jack, and began searching through the artists and bands, trying to find something that sparked her interest. She passed Fly Leaf and made a face. God, not that crappy shit I used to listen to.. It took her probably five minutes of old music and new music, both in which she was too picky and almost didn't find a song. A certain band came across the screen, and she decided maybe it was worth it. She scrolled through her Trapt album, and a smile creeped across her face as a certain song came onto her screen.

She clicked on it, yanking the headphones out. She turned the speaker volume all the way up. She set her phone inside her bra, with the speaker facing out. She did this so she wouldn't have to constantly hold her phone. She looked down at herself, not remembering what she was wearing. She smiled when she saw the skin tight black tank top that was v-neck cut, showing plenty of cleavage. Her extremely short blue jean cut offs went well with it to show off her curves perfectly. She never wore this kind of exposing clothes in public. She smiled at her heeled black combat boots. She grinned as the song began to play the heavy rock music, coming up to the singing. She looked around, making sure she was alone, then began to sing along with the music.

_"I keep swinging with those moods, I keep crawling back to you_  
_I know now that love is blind, because you put that veil over my eyes_  
_I'm addicted to your touch, you tear me down to build me up_  
_I'm a sucker for this game, but it's all I want to play.."_

Ivy smiled, as she leaned against a shed on the roof, she assumed it was some kind of supply closet or something, and didn't even bother to over think it. She looked up, and closed her eyes as she sung the next part.

_"A little piece of heaven raising hell_  
_Sex is just weapon that you use to possess, keep me all to yourself_  
_The more I feel the pleasure, the more I feel the pain_  
_I'm in a love hate relationship too deep to escape_  
_Everyday is a gamble, that's the risk that I take_  
_In a love hate relationship and you are to blame.."_

"You've got a good taste in music." Ivy's eye flew open and she gasped as she pushed herself away from the wall. She stood, fists clenched as she stared at the speaker. Raph stood with his arms crossed over his chest and raised an eyebrow. "Damn, is it_ that_ surprising that I listen to Trapt?" Ivy felt her jaw tighten as she stepped closer to him. "You _asshole_!" She spat. "How long have you been standing there?!" She stared at him, eyes flaring as she waited for her answer. He just shrugged. "Long enough to find out you actually have talent, surprisingly enough."

Ivy felt like she could punch him in the face. "You fucking dick! How could you stand there and just listen like that? You fucking _creep_! Why would you do that?!" Her voice was becoming frantic and high pitched, no one had ever heard her sing. She made sure of that. Now she had the one person that she couldn't stand to even be around hear her! He smirked. "Because I'm a dick, asshole, creep, jerk.. Need I go on?" Ivy crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes into a glare. "You forgot _freak_." He scowled. "You know," he began, "you should be thanking me. Leo was going to come over here cause they found out, but I told them I'd deal with it."

Ivy cupped her hands together, and began to sway on her feet and bat her eyelashes at him as she smiled sweetly. "Oh thank you, kind gentleman, for saving me from being scolded." Her face turned back to the glare. "Because I _much_ rather would have to deal with_ you._" Raph snorted. "Listen, _princess_. I don't even plan on getting onto ya. I know how you feel. Being cramped.." Ivy stopped him. "No, you _don't_ know how I feel. I'm having to hide in the sewers because if I get seen by the wrong person, I'm _dead_." Raph raised an eyebrow, and then it hit Ivy. She let her arms drop. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean.." He put his hand up. "No, it's fine. I completely get it. And what I was going to say, is I get what it's like to feel cramped up and need room to breathe."

Ivy looked away from him. She didn't want him to see the guilt she was feeling for what she had said. _Why do I feel guilty for a freak like him?_ She wanted to spit on herself. She had said much worse things to people than that, and had never felt even half an ounce of guilt, so why did she choose to feel it now? She sighed, then looked back at him. He was still standing there with his arms crossed. Finally he rolled his eyes. "Don't feel bad, even I say things-" "I do_ not_ feel guilty!" She spat. His eyes widened slightly as she continued. "And don't even _think_ for a moment that you know how I feel, because you don't have a _damn_ clue." Her voice had grown soft but rough by the end of the sentence. She was becoming frantic, emotions swelling inside that she hadn't felt before. It was overwhelming her.

He put his hands up. "I wasn't. I'm sorry for trying to actually get along with you for once." He turned to walk away. Before she could stop herself, Ivy blurted out, "No, I'm sorry! Don't go!"_ Damn it, why the fuck did you do that you dumb bitch?!_ He stopped, then turned around. "Uh.. Okay?" He was looking at her now, his face was unreadable. The music was still playing, and the lyrics surrounded them in their awkward silence.

_"We pull it together and tear it apart_  
_We walk a thin line, it's just who we are_  
_A little piece of heaven raising hell_  
_Sex is just weapon that I have to accept_  
_You got me all to yourself.."_

Raph stood for a minute, listening to the music. He watched her, and he saw a different girl than he was used to. The Ivy he had been living with for the past two weeks was rude, strong, and had a high pride. The girl he was looking at now was upset, confused, and seemed almost.. shy. All those thoughts went away when she shot him a glare, letting him know she'd caught him staring at her. He smirked. _There, that's that Ivy I know so well._ He took a step closer, and saw her flinch. _Is she scared of me..? Nah, she couldn't be._ He took another step, but she didn't move. He slowly moved closer to her and he let the words from the music fill his ears.

_"And the higher you take me, the farther I fall_  
_In a love hate relationship and you I have lost_  
_I have to forgive you for all of your flaws_  
_In a love hate relationship and you're all I want.."_

He was standing less then a foot away from her, and he saw how small and fragile she really was when she wasn't running her damn smart ass mouth. He cocked his head to the side, and sighed. "Ivy, why can't we just get along for once?" He asked. She slowly looked up at him. "Well.. We aren't exactly yelling at each other this time. So this counts as getting along, right?" Raph chuckled and shook his head. "Hardly does, princess." Ivy punched him gently in the arm. "What did I tell you about calling me princess?" He shrugged. "I dunno, I probably forgot." Ivy laughed. "Doesn't surprise me that you'd loose anything in that big, empty head of yours."

She crossed her arms and smiled. This smile wasn't the smile Raph was used to. It didn't say "Yeah I don't like you, but you're fun to argue with." This smile almost said, "I think I'm beginning to actually enjoy your company now." Raph smiled back at her, and jumped on top of the same shed she had been leaning against. He looked down to see her standing there, looking up at him with her arms crossed. He laughed. "Need help?" Ivy smirked. "Only cause I'm in heels." He put his hand down, and she grabbed it. He pulled her up and she sat about a foot away from him. They both looked up at the sky for while, neither of them saying anything. Raph was the first to break the silence.

"So how'd a girl like you end up with those girls?" He pointed his thumb backwards, gesturing to the direction the lair was. Ivy thought for a moment, then shrugged. "In second grade, me and Willow got partnered up for some stupid coloring assignment or something." There was a laugh and Ivy glared at him. "What?! It was second grade! Anyway, O noticed she placed her crayons in color order by the rainbow, and I began to tease her about it. I told her she was too perfect. Called her Miss Priss." She smiled. "Then other kids heard me doing it, and joined in. I got quiet, waiting for her reaction to the taunts. But she just.. sat there, continuing to organize her crayons. What they were saying didn't even seem to faze her! I guess this irritated me, so I told everyone to shove it. She told me thanks, and we just became best friends."

Raph listened to her. Ivy just continued on. "Don't get me wrong, Willow has no issue with defending herself. It just takes a lot to get her to the point of being pissed. You have to be trying really hard to push her limits. It's hard, even for me. Harper is her twin, and Fern and Harper had become friends. Me and Fern would go to Harper and Willow's every weekend, and we just became like sisters I guess. I'd do anything for those little cunts." She turned to look at him now. "So what about you, Achilles?" Raph raised an eyebrow. "Achilles?" He asked. Ivy shrugged. "Yeah, that one ancient warrior." Raph smiled. "Oh, the one who won every battle he was in? Don't flatter me, princess."

Ivy smiled, looking strait ahead. "No, the one who was over confident and had an ego bigger than the sun, which ended up being the death of him." She turned to face him. "Don't flatter yourself, freak." He frowned. Ivy just shrugged. "Anyway, so how about you? How did you and your brothers end up like this. Are ya'll even really brothers?" She asked. Raph smirked. "You might want to get comfortable for this, it's a long story." Ivy didn't move, she just continued to look at him. He sighed, then began the story.

"No, we aren't technically related. We were just normal turtles, we came from a turtle farm and ended up in that little pet shop down the rode. Splinter was a human, who decided to adopt us. He was walking down an alley way, a short cut back to his apartment. Bad idea. There were some men doing what he thought was a drug deal, but ended up being a lot worse. They were exchanging some mutagen. He tried getting away before they saw him, but he wasn't too lucky. In the scuffle of the men trying to grab him, they ended up dropping a container of the mutagen. It spilled all over him and us. The men gasped, and ran away. Splinter began to change, he turned into a rat.

"Me and my brothers? We were already about two inches big, and grew to be about half a foot each. We were still babies. Splinter picked us up and took us into the sewer. It was the only place we wouldn't be seen, the world would never accept us for who we were. When we turned four, Splinter began to teach us ninjitsu. We got into fights with the Foot, which were knock off ninjas that worked for some psycho named Shredder. We had to fight the purple dragons a lot. I'm surprised we're all still alive, to be honest. We've had a lot of close calls." He finished, looking at her to see her reaction. She sat for a minute, taking it all in. After a moment, she finally asked her question. "So what made Splinter turn into a rat and you guys half human?"

"Well, you see when the mutagen gets on you, your DNA combines with that of whatever animal's DNA you had last touched." Ivy cocked her head, confused. "So why isn't Splinter a turtle?" Raph shrugged. "We assume a rat touched him at some point when he was in the alley. We don't exactly know for sure, it's the only logical explanation." Ivy rolled her eyes. "None of what you just said seems logical." Raph thought on that for a moment, then shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you're right." They sat in another silence, this one lasting about five minutes. But this time, Ivy broke it.

"So what's your weakness?" Raph looked at her. "Excuse me?" Ivy laughed. "Achilles had one weakness, and that was the tendon in his foot. That's why it's called the Achilles tendon. So tell me, what's your Achilles weakness?" Raph thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't know, honestly. Haven't thought about it." Ivy smiled, then jumped down off the shed. She turned to face him. "Well, then think about it and get back to me on it." Raph smirked then jumped down next to her. "Yeah right, like I'd tell you if I knew. You'd just use that against me in our arguments." Ivy grinned. "Maybe, maybe not." He rolled his eyes. "Let's get home before they think we got murdered or kidnapped."


	8. Change Of Plans

Willow sat at the kitchen table drinking her water. She laughed, still thinking about the look on Leonardo's face when she told him to put ice on the bump. She turned the bottle around, which was still half full, to read the label from utter bordum. Then, Leonardo came around the corner. He was holding an ice pack to his head. Don had given it to him and two low pain pills to help the throbbing. He saw Willow sitting up in a chair, reading a water bottle. He raised an eyebrow, then walked to the refrigerator.

"I see you took my advice." Willow stated without even looking up at him. He stopped after he opened the fridge door and turned and looked at her, confused. She smiled and looked up at him. "The ice pack." His face showed that he now understood, then nodded. "Yeah, Donnie made me use it." Willow nodded. "He's smart, that one is." Leonardo pulled out a water bottle for himself, and closed the door. He smiled as he sat down across from Willow. "You have _no_ idea."

"I'm just sayin', you ain't that bad princess." It was Raphael, Leonardo and Willow turned to see him and Ivy enter the kitchen. Ivy stopped walking as she narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms. "What did I tell you about calling me 'princess', freak?" He looked taken aback, which confused Willow and obviously confused Leonardo too, by the look on his face. Wasn't Raphael used to Ivy's snide comments and insults? For the past week that's all the hot-headed pair had done, was bicker and fuss. Raphael just shook his head. "I thought we were done fighting?" Ivy just smirked, shaking her head.

"Sweetheart, the truce was up the moment me and you walked into that door." She pointed behind her to the living room with her thumb. Raphael scowled and began what sounded like a suppressed growl. "Yeah, whatever." With that, he turned around and walked out of the kitchen. About ten seconds later, there was the sound of a door slamming. Ivy turned to Willow, and gave Willow that smile she always did when she made Raphael storm off in one of his little fits.

Leonardo sighed. "Well, I better go do some meditating. It doesn't look like he'll calm down for a while, and I better be ready for his attitude." He left the water bottle sitting on the table, and stood up to put the ice pack in the freezer. Once he was done, he turned and began to walk out of the kitchen. He stopped next to Ivy and looked at her. "Ivy, please. Can you please try not to piss him off as much as you do? The rest of us have to suffer for it." Ivy smiled up at him sweetly. "Don't count on it, Fearless." Leonardo side, trying to control his growing aggravation twords this young woman, and went off to the dojo.

Ivy turned to Willow, her eyes narrowed only slightly. "What are we doing?" She asked. Willow paused, then shrugged. "What are you talking about?" Ivy rolled her eyes in annoyance. "You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about, Miss Priss. We're staying in the _sewer_ with four giant turtles and their father, which _happens_ to be a giant rat, I might add." She wasn't even trying to whisper, she didn't care if anyone heard her. Willow sighed, shaking her head. "They're trying to help up, Ivy." Ivy snorted. "Help us to run from our problem." She kept her arms crossed, eyes locked on Willow.

"They're trying to keep us alive." Harper said cooly from behind her. She walked past Ivy and stood next to her twin who was still sitting at the table. Ivy shook her head. "No, all we're doing is _running_. No matter how long we wait down here, those assholes will still be up there waiting on us. You girls can hide down here for the rest of your lives and run from the problem, but_ I'm_ not. I'm going to find a way to fight this problem. Because no matter how long we hide, it doesn't go away." Her voice was beginning to rise slowly, worrying Willow. Ivy was on the verge of having one of her famous temper tantrums. None of the turtles had seen one yet, not even Raphael. And Willow wanted it to stay that way.

"Well then what do you suggest we do, Ivy?" Ivy smirked. "Aww thank you Willow for listening to the opinions of someone other than yourself." Willow's eyes narrowed and Ivy continued. "I can call my parents, and try to get them to get me a new apartment. I'll tell them I want a two bedroom, explaining that we all decided to move in together." Willow shook her head. "Ivy, if there was a list of the most horrible ideas you've ever had, this would by far be number one." Ivy's face went blank, showing no emotion. Willow held her breath. _Oh great, here we go.. It's the calm before the storm._

Ivy just nodded. "I guess you're right." Then her face twisted, an evil expression was on it, something you'd see on someone's face right before they violently murdered you in anger. "Because it makes more sense to just hide away for the rest of our lives in the sewers while we rely on complete _strangers_ to keep us safe?!" She was yelling now, her voice becoming extremely aggressive. "Those strangers have feelings, you know." Ivy whipped around, barely inches from Leonardo. Her eyes were flaring in anger, practically glowing like a green fire.

"I don't give a _shit_ about feelings. Never have, and I never will. You can't keep me locked down here." As she spoke, she began to tremble in pure rage. Leonardo didn't even flinch. "We can if it keeps you _alive_. We'll make you stay, if that's what it takes." Ivy didn't say anything at first, but then she just smiled at him. "I'd like to see you try." She whispered, then walked right past him. He didn't even make an attempt to grab her, knowing from experience with Raphael the best thing to do is let them leave and be angry than to make them stay and be angry, which only makes the anger worse in the end.

"I'm sorry.." Willow whispered. Leonardo looked up at her. "No, don't be. I completely understand what it's like to have a sibling that just can't seem to control their temper." He was smiling as he said it, trying to reassure her everything was fine. Willow returned the smile, but it wasn't genuine. She still felt horrible for Ivy's actions to the turtle. Leonardo shrugged. "At least she didn't insult me like she does Raph." With this, Willow couldn't help but let out a weak laugh. "Didn't know you had a sense of humor, Fearless." He shrugged, turning to leave again. "That's because I don't have a sense of humor."

Fern watched Mikey's face as he heard the things Ivy was yelling in the kitchen. He was trying to pretend he was still watching TV and didn't even notice the yelling, but Fern knew the flash of hurt that swept across his eyes as she yelled something about not wanting to be down here anymore, that they were just hiding with a bunch of strangers and freaks. Fern sighed. "Mikey, I know you hear her. You can quit acting like you don't." Mikey gave her a faint smile. "Can't get nothing past you, can I?" Fern smiled, and shook her head. "You know Ivy says that kind of stuff all the time, so why is it bothering you now?" Mikey just stared at the TV for a while, then finally replied.

"Do you feel the same as she does?" He asked. Fern frowned. She knew he was asking more than one question by just asking that one. He wanted to know if she trust them, him. If she wanted to leave. If they were just freaks in her eyes. "Not really, no." He looked at her, he didn't believe her. Fern smiled. "Mikey, don't get me wrong, I don't like being stuck down here as much as the next guy. I want to live up there. But no matter where I live, I want you to come see me. I don't want you to leave me." The whole time she spoke, he never took his baby blue eyes off hers. "I would _never_ leave you, Fern. Ever." She blushed, then before he could react she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. "I know, Mikey. That's why I love you."

Mikey felt his mouth go dry and his throat tighten. His blood ran cold, and his cheeks grew burning hot._ Is it even possible to love someone after only knowing them for a week..?_ He already knew the answer. He'd known he loved Fern from the first night she stayed here. He sighed, secretly resenting the fact that the love they felt for each other was meant in different ways. "What, so for once in his life the great Michelangelo doesn't know what to say?" She pulled back, teasing him.

He smirked playfully. "No, I was just thinking." Fern's red curls were falling into her face. The pure white braided bandanna was wrapped tightly around her head. Mikey couldn't help but admire how perfectly the dark red of her curls went with the glowing white of the braid. As her eyes held his, he became lost in them. The inside of her eye around the pupil was a burst of pale yellow. The yellow faded to a greyish blue as it went outward, and her iris was rimmed with a dark blue rim, making her eyes pop even more.

"Thinking about what?" This question brought him back to reality. He was laying across the couch, and she had been sitting on his thighs. Now she was leaning on his chest, her elbows supporting her as she rested her head in her palms. Mikey shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "Just scared that I might lose you." It wasn't a complete lie. He was afraid to loose her. No, he was completely terrified at the thought of not having Fern here to laugh at his jokes like no one else had.

She giggled. "Mikey, the only way you would loose me is if you walked out on me and left me alone. Even if I'm not here, you can still come and see me. Always. Mi casa es su casa." Mikey began to laugh at her horrible Spanish accent. He pulled his arm up and ruffled the top of her hair with his hand. "Same goes to you. Did you take Spanish lessons?" Fern faked surprised. "No, never!" Mikey winked. "Well, there's a shocker to us all."

~Two Weeks Later~

Harper sat on Donnie's lab cot while he worked at his desk. "You know, I've been working on one of these for years," he began, "and it never worked because the whole needing metal as the walls never hit me. I've used copper." Harper gasped. "Donnie, you of all people should know that copper is a _huge_ heat conductor!" Donnie turned to look at her, and Harper blushed. "My science teacher must have said something about it in school." She wouldn't make eye contact with him, and he set the keypad he was working on. He spun in his chair to face her.

"Harper, why do you always do that?" He asked. Harper still didn't look at him. "Do what?" She asked. He shook his head. "Say something extremely intelligent, then bail from it." Harper couldn't stop herself, she looked up into his brown eyes. They were soft, and concerned. Harper shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about." Donnie shook his head again. "Yes you do Harper, spill it." Harper sighed, and looked away.

"I've always been really smart. I mean really smart. In first grade I was at grade level eight in my head. At first it was great, until I hit second, third, and fourth grade." Donnie's head tilted slightly, confused. "What happened?" Harper held back a whine. "I got bullied. The kids would take my stuff and flush it. They would lock me in the janitor's closet. The girls wouldn't let me out of the bathroom, and they give me a swirly.. And the worst was on the playground. They'd get the biggest rocks they could find, only about dime sized, and throw them at me. One hit me in the eye once, I almost went blind. I told my mom that someone was running and it just got kicked on accident and flew at me.

"After that I made my mom put me in regular classes. I told her the advanced classes were too hard, but she didn't buy it. She didn't question me though, so she did it anyway. From then on I acted ditsy and dumb. After a couple of years, people treated me right. They'd give me weird looks for saying the dumb things I did, but I liked it better than having rocks thrown at me and my head being flushed down a toilet." She was whispering now. Her voice was cracking as she still refusing to look up.

The only two people who knew this was her sister Willow and Fern. She had never told another soul, not even Ivy. Here she was, telling a complete stranger. The word stung her. Stranger. Was he a stranger? Sure, she'd only known him two weeks now, but she felt like she was closer to him than her sisters. She fought it sometimes, refusing to admit that she could care so much for a turtle.. But here she was, loving a turtle that was six inches taller than her with muscles that would make any girl melt if he were human. But he wasn't, and that was the problem.

Harper felt a hand rest on top of hers. Her eyes shot open, a strange heat running up the back of her neck. "Harper.." She didn't move. "Harper, look at me." She sat, frozen. "_Please_, Harper.." She turned, then looked once more into those eyes that could pull her soul to the surface. He swallowed. "There is nothing wrong with being a little smarter than the average. Sure, you'll get made fun of. Trust me, I know. But in the end, who is the one they run to when they need something made or fixed? _Us_." Harper smiled shyly. "I guess you're right."

Donnie knew his attempt to make her feel better just wasn't working right now. He sighed. "I know you probably have a hard time showing people how smart you really are after all that, but trust me when I tell you Harper.. You don't have to pretend around me. I actually like when you show how smart you are. It makes me feel like maybe I'm not so alone in this crazy world." He grinned shyly. Harper felt her cheeks begin to burn. "Donnie.." She whispered. He was looking deep into her eyes. Harper seemed to be falling forward, but didn't know what was happening. She closed her eyes as she felt herself begin to lean forward, then...

"Harper! Ivy wants to talk to us!" Harper shot up. Fern was standing in the doorway, a huge grin across her face let Harper know she had seen what had almost happened. To Harper's silent wishes, Fern didn't tease her about it. At least, not right now. Harper cleared her throat, not looking at Donnie. She just couldn't look at him. Not right now. She pushed past him, following Fern silently. They headed to the kitchen to see Leonardo, Michelangelo, Ivy, and Willow already at the kitchen table.

"What's all this about?" Harper asked. Ivy stood with her arms crossed behind the chair Willow was sitting in. Mikey was sitting in the chair across from Willow. Leonardo stood behind the chair that was between Willow and Mikey, and Fern went to sit next to Mikey. Harper stood, waiting for an answer to her question.

"I called my parents." Ivy began. Leonardo was looking dead ahead at nothing in particular. He was pissed, even Fern could tell that. If Ivy noticed, she ignored it well. "You guys know those apartments at the edge of the city by the ocean?" Willow shrugged. "Which ones, Ivy. There's at least three sets down there." Ivy rolled her eyes. "The pastel green ones. You know, the ones with the twelve foot electric fence with no way to get in but through the front gate, in which you need an apartment key to get through." Fern's face lit up. "The ones celebrities live in?!" She gasped. Ivy smirked, which was a yes.

"Yes, guess who's parents got her and are going to pay for a four bedroom apartment there, with a balcony that has a perfect view of the ocean, and a jacuzzi with a bar. Aaaand each room has it's own bathroom, and every bathtub can be a hot tub with jets. The bathtubs are at least ten feet around. And, each room has a fridge and microwave, a 60 inch plasma TV. Also each room has it's own walk in closet. Need I go on?" Everyone had started staring at her from the moment she had said hot tub. She smiled at the silence, knowing that neither girl could say no to this.

"All I have to do is go get the key sets from my mom and bam, new home." Harper blinked. "Ivy, how did you.. Those apartments are well over three thousand dollars a month!" Ivy shrugged. "What else can a girl with filthy rich parents do?" Leonardo shot his head up to look at her. "And if the assassins follow you to your parents and then to your new 'home'?" Ivy snorted. "Let them. Who cares? Even if they know where we live, it's not like they have a way to get in. This place is hard core built for privacy." Leonardo's eyes narrowed. "Then how do we get in if you need us?" Ivy waved her hand at him. "That's why I told my mom to ask for eight sets of keys, I just told her they were for in case we lost one." Leonardo relaxed, looking utterly defeated.

"So when did ya plan on telling me you were leavin'?" Everyone turned to see a very angry-looking Raphael standing in the doorway, arms crossed. Ivy shifted her feet. "That one's easy. I was just going to let you find out after we were gone." Raphael growled at her as he uncrossed his arms, taking a step closer to her. "Are ya crazy? You're gonna get yourself _killed_ out there!" He yelled. Ivy smiled. "I can take care of myself, hot shot." He narrowed his eyes. "Yeah, well what about your sisters?" He spat. Ivy shrugged. "I can protect them." She offered cooly. Raph snorted. "How exactly, if I might ask, do you plan on protecting them from something you won't even protect yourself from?"

The room went silent. Everyone turned to stare at Ivy, waiting for the smart-ass come back that never came. She just stared at him, eye widened slightly and jaw barely dropped. She stayed that way for a few seconds, before her mouth closed and her eyes went back to their menacing slits. "Is it any of your concern? Why do you even _care_? You never did before!" He yelled back at him. He paused, then snickered. "Yeah, I guess I don't care. You got me all figured out, princess." With that, he turned and left her standing there in a rage. "I _told_ you not to call me that!" She screamed at him. Even though he didn't reply, she knew he heard.

She turned back to Leonardo. "We're going tomorrow night." It wasn't a question, and he knew better than to argue. She passed them all, and stormed off into the living room. Mikey was the first to speak, and it was directly to Fern. "Are you going?" He asked her. Fern looked him in the eyes. "Wherever my sister's go, I go." She saw his face sink, and immediately added the rest to prevent the pain that was coming. "But Ivy's giving you a key. You can come see me any time you want to, Mikey. I mean it, any time." He smiled, but still looked a little sad. Leonardo stepped forward. "I wouldn't say that if I were you. He'll never leave." Fern just smiled at him. "I don't mind at all." She looked at Mikey and giggled when she saw the pink that flushed across his face.


	9. New Home

Ivy pulled on her black combat boots heels. They were black leather that came to her mid calf. There were zig-zag laced all the way up the front, with three black leather straps with silver flat spikes wrapped around each boot. She smiled at them. She had bought them less than a month ago, and this was her first time to wear them. To her this was a special occasion. She was getting out of this hell hole and out into the real world. She looked down at her jet black jeans that were more than just skin-tight. They had slits all up the front, exposing a lot of skin. Her skin-tight white tank top was partly covered with the same black leather jacket she had worn the night of the carnival. Her eyes were thinly lined with eyeliner, and she had on heavy mascara making her eyelashes almost touch her eyebrows. She was hot, and she knew it. There was nothing wrong with knowing you're attractive, and it was hard not to when every boy who saw her began to drool.

She walked out of the room that was once again Mikey's, grabbing her bag. She walked out and stood on top of the stairs, looking around the big living room. For a slight second she felt like she already missed this place, but shoved that feeling somewhere deep inside her and scowled. She wanted out of here, that's all she's wanted from the first night they arrived. She refused to have second thoughts over this. She saw Willow, Fern, and Harper standing at the door with Leonardo, Donatello, and Michelangelo. She walked down to meet them and put her free hand on her hip. "Where's hot-shot?"

Leonardo turned to her. "We can't just drive up to your parents house in the Battle Shell, it looks like a tank. Raph is going to take you to your parents on something that's only slightly more low-key." Ivy could tell by his tone of voice that whatever was, he wasn't fond of the idea. This made Ivy smile. "Alright, where is he?" Leonardo nodded his head to the door. "Our garage. Where the Battle Shell is. Willow is going to take your bag so you don't have to carry it." Ivy hesitated at first, but reluctantly handed it to Willow. "Don't let anyone else have it, or I'll kill you." She hissed. Willow only nodded to her, knowing that she would kill her if she let anyone else have her bag.

"Alright, well let's go." With Ivy's command, Leonardo headed out the door with very eager followers. It took about five minutes to reach the man-hole they were meant to climb up. Ivy went up first, ready to leave the sewers as soon as possible. She pushed the heavy man-hole out of the way, and gasped. It really was a garage, and it was huge. She turned to a big green truck that, as Leonardo had pointed out, looked like a tank. It was the Battle Shell, which definitely lived up to its name.

She pulled herself put completely out to stand up straight. Someone cleared their throat, making her turn around. Ivy's jaw dropped. There was Raphael standing right next to the biggest, most powerful, and just all around best motorcycle she's ever seen. It was entirely black on black, no other color on sight except for the break lights which were a deep red. She walked right up to him. He was wearing a black helmet with an overly sized black leather jacket. He had on black sweat pants to cover his legs with black combat boots. She couldn't see his face, but she just knew that there was a smirk under that helmet.

He reached out, handing her one of her own. It was mostly black with a dark red stripe down the middle. She took it, then turned to the bike. "This definitely can't compare to all the little bitch bikes guys have taken me on in." She looked up at him and smiled. He chuckled. "This baby is a Ross Hoss V8, I'm not surprised you've seen nothing to compare it too." Ivy rolled her eyes as she heard the over ego tone in his voice. "Can we just go?" She groaned. He laughed as he threw his leg over the seat. "Someone's eager to ride with me." He teased. Ivy straddled the bike and placed herself directly behind him. "Correction, I can't wait to ride on the bike. You have nothing to do with it." He growled at her, but she didn't hear it as the garage began to open.

He revved the engine, giving her goose bumps. He pulled out into the ally way slowly, and as soon as he pulled into the street he gassed it and went from ten to seventy in five seconds. He swerved in and out of traffic, making him receive a various of honks from pissed off drivers. It only made Ivy laugh at them. After a moment, she couldn't resist the urge to pull her helmet off. She held onto it tightly as she took it off her head. She secured it to a strap on the bike, and let the wind blow her hair like a flag. She smiled, and before she knew what she was doing she threw her hands up in the air.

She knew just how dangerous this was, but she didn't care. In this moment she felt alive, she felt young. For this moment she could forget that there were men wanting to kill her. She could forget the fights she'd had with Raph. Forget that.. Suddenly she felt herself almost fly off the bike as he took a sharp turn. She immediately wrapped her arms around him, clinging herself to him. She felt him chuckle. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you'd never ridden before." He yelled over the sound of the motor. Ivy laughed.

"Well then I guess it's a good thing you know better. I've ridden plenty times, just never a ride this amazing!" She yelled back at him. With no response, she couldn't help but picture the smile that would have formed on his lips. She didn't picture that smart-ass smile he always had, but the smile she had only seen once before. A genuine smile that showed something had really amused him or made him somewhat happy. She frowned. It was hard to picture Raph happy. Nothing seemed to please the hot-headed turtle. They were a lot a like in that way, they were both hard to please. Now that she thought about it, she realized just how much they were alike. Maybe I shouldn't give him such a hard time..

"We're here." Ivy hadn't even realized that the bike had stopped. She blinked as she brought herself out of her thoughts. She looked up to the blue apartments they were at. She growled, regretting having to go up the stairs to see the people she hated almost more than anyone. "I'll be right back." She whispered. She pulled herself off the bike, but before she even turned around she froze as a familiar woman's voice rang from behind her. "Ivy, it's so good to see you!" Ivy closed her eyes shut. "You too, mom."

"Well then face me!" Ivy sighed then turned around. The blonde woman stood in front of her, blue eyes shinning. Her red lipstick was beginning to smear into her perfectly white teeth. Her face was covered in powder and blush lined her cheeks perfectly. Her fake eyelashes seemed like they'd fall off at any moment, leaving her blue eye shadow to fend for its self. "Hey." Ivy said flatly. Her mother looked past her to the man on the bike. "Is this your boyfriend?" She asked, her voice weary. Ivy was about to say no, but then realized that her mother wouldn't believe it and only start to ask him questions. "Uh.. Yeah. Keys?" She tried changing the subject, but her mom refused.

"He looks.. rough." Ivy rolled her eyes. "He's not rough." She growled. Her mom shook her head. "That's what you said about the last boy you rode one of these.. death bikes with. Then you got in that wreck and couldn't walk for almost two months!" Ivy saw Raphael's head perk up just slightly, and she could have slapped her mother for saying this in front of him. "Well, I'm walking now. I'm_ fine_." Her mother looked at her sadly. "I'm just worried about you." She said. Ivy grunted. "Mom, don't do this." Her mother crossed her arms. "Do what? Worry about who my daughter dates?" She asked. Ivy felt her face burn. "Yeah, well you never cares the last eighteen years of my damn life, so_ don't_ start now!" she yelled.

Her mother shot her a pained look, letting her know it had hurt her feelings. Ivy didn't care. "_Keys_." She growled. Her mother narrowed her eyes then reached in her pocket, handing her eight yellow cards. Ivy took them, shoving them in her own pocket. "A_ thank you_ wouldn't be so much." Her mother pushed. Ivy smirked. "Thanks for not being there as I raised myself. _Bye_." With that, she threw her leg over the bike and leaned forward. "Gas it." She said in Raphael's ear. He wasted no time as he sped off, leaving a very confused mother to watch her only daughter leave with a mystery man on a motorcycle.

"Where are they?" Ivy asked him loudly. "They're waiting at the gate entrance!" He yelled back. It was already almost midnight, her and Raphael had been gone almost an hour. "We're almost there." He yelled back at her, as if reading her mind. Within five minutes, they pulled up to the gates to see the battle shell parked behind big trees, hidden. As the bike came to a stop, Ivy laughed. "I guess it's a good thing that bitch is green." She got off, leaving the helmet. She waited a moment, then saw Willow, Harper, and Fern come out of the battle shell. The other turtles followed right behind them. They all stood around Ivy and waited.

Ivy reached in her pocket, pulling out the cards. "Here's your keys. Loose it, too bad." She handed one to each turtle, and one to each of her sisters. "Who's ready to see our new pad?" She asked, smiling. No one objected. She walked past them right up to the gate. There was no one there, it was an automatic gate. She slid the card in the swipe, and the huge metal gates slowly began to pull apart to allow them in. "Apartment 34." She said. They followed her up two flights of stairs, and walked down the outside hall until they reached a forest green door with the number 34 written in gold over the silver peep hole. Ivy slid the car in this swipe and the door pushed open an inch. She pushed it the rest of the way and entered. She grinned, putting her hands on her hips. "Welcome home!"

Ivy couldn't even count how many gasps she heard. She turned to see Fern, Willow, and Leonardo just wide-eyed. Harper, Donatello, and Michelangelo just had their jaws dropped, and then there was Raph. He was leaning against the door way with his arms crossed, his face blank. Ivy frowned. "You not impressed, hot-shot?" He looked at her and shrugged. "Excuse me for not jumping for joy at a house I don't even get to stay in." Ivy raised an eyebrow at this as an idea popped into her head. "You guys wanna stay the night here with us?" She asked.

Everyone turned to look at her, shocked that Ivy of all people would give such a big offer. She started to get irritated, knowing that everyone would think she had gone soft. She cleared her throat. "I'm only offering this so you guys can shut up about not being able to keep us safe. If this works out, you can stay at least two nights a week I guess." A huge grin came across Mikey's face. "Whatever you say, dudette!" Ivy narrowed her eyes. "But on only one condition." All eyes were on her, waiting for whatever demented thing she'd want them to do. She smirked. "Take those _ridiculous_ trench coats off before you take another step inside. You'll infect the place with your ugly." She sent a look at Raphael as she said the last part, and he returned the look with a glare of his own.

Ivy looked around and for the first time got a good glimpse of what was now their new home. The first thing she noticed was the light cream colored wrap around couch. On each side it had three person seats, then it wrapped around for two people in each corner, then in the middle there was a four person seat. In front of the couch was a large, square glass table trimmed with fine oak wood, the table legs were made of the wood too. The carpet was a shade lighter than the couch, almost white. Under the table and couch there was a dark reddish-brown rug with light brown floral designs. The back walls were completely glass windows, giving them a perfect view of the ocean. Right across the room from the huge couch was a two hundred inch plasma screen TV hooked up to the wall.

In the kitchen there were two table, each made of glass similar to the one in the living room, but it was trimmed with a darker more polished wood. They each had eight white chairs around them. She stepped into the kitchen to get a full view. Everything was white and black. The counters wrapped all the way around the wall, white cabinets right above them. The sink and stove were right in the middle, the fridge was at the end across from the walk way. There was an island in the middle, which had a small door that must have just been another cabinet.

Ivy turned around to see everyone had followed her. They were staring at her, wanting to look at the next part of the house. Ivy smiled at their eagerness and walked past them, beckoning them to follow. She walked past the living room and slowed her pace to look at all of it again. It really was amazing. Ivy looked down the hallway and raised an eyebrow. There was one brown door on the right, and a little further down a brown door to the left. The hallway turned, obviously going to the other rooms. Ivy opened up the first door and stepped inside.

The room was huge. The left wall was completely a mirror. In the middle of the mirror was two door handles, which must lead to the closet. On the back and right wall was a long hot pink couch. The right walled side of the couch turned into a king sized bed. The bed was a pale lavender with darker purple sheets. There was a hot pink blanket over it, with pale lavender and the same darker purple pillows. She turned to her right to see a light switch that had two switches. Ivy made a face. There hadn't been any fans, so what was the second switch for. She reached over and flipped it up. The instant she did this, the ceiling came to life. Everyone gasped.

The ceiling had turned into a virtual galaxy. Pink and purple shades of stars began to spin, passing strange planets and suns, black holes and other galaxies. It was beautiful. It didn't even look fake, it looked almost like you were actually floating through space. Ivy switched the light off, but left the ceiling on. The colors instantly began brighter, lighting the room up in a dark shade of pink. For the first time in her life, Ivy was speechless. "I totally call dibs. It's perfect." Harper whispered from next to her. Ivy was about to argue, until she saw the look on her face. Yes, they had all been amazed by the room, but Harper seemed to have fallen in love that very instant, and Ivy knew that this was in fact the perfect room for her. She sighed. "Alright, let's go to the next room."

Ivy pushed them out of the way, almost all of them seemed to object. After they realized they were going to see the next room, they couldn't help but want to see it. Ivy walked down the hall and pushed open the door on the left. The walls were white, and the first thing she noticed was the bed. The sheets and four large pillow were completely white. The comforter and long body pillow were the same, a light blue with black floral designs almost like the ones on the living room carpet. There was a smaller light blue pillow layed in the front middle of the pillows. In the right back corner was a light wooden table with a fourty-two inch flat screen TV sitting on top. In the left corner was a love seat. It was made like a basket, but the part you sit on was a cushion that looked just like the bed comforter. The back wall was completely glass windows that showed lights of the city and the rose garden outside.

Willow was looking around, a silent longing inside her. She wanted this room more than anything, but refused to say anything. She wanted her sisters to pick the rooms they wanted, and she would just take the extra. She walked over to the bed and felt the comforter. It was so soft. Willow wanted to just fall on the bed and never get up, but held herself together in a calm manner. Someone cleared their throat from behind her. She turned around to see Ivy smiling at her. "It's yours." Ivy said. Willow's jaw dropped, then she shook her head. "No, you or Fern might want it.. I can't just-" Ivy threw her hand up to stop her from finishing. "It's yours, Willow. We all know it's perfect for you." Willow looked to Fern and Harper who nodded and smiled. Willow sighed as she bowed her head. "Thank you." She whispered. Ivy snorted. "Whatever Miss Priss, let's just go look at the next one already."

The walked back into the hall and turned the corner. There was three doors this time. Ivy's eyebrows creased. Her mother had told her this was only a four bedroom. She brushed the thought aside and walked to the first door on the left. She turned the knob and pushed the door open. She was overtaken by the colors yellow and white. She had to squint her eyes because the room was just so damn bright. On the right wall was the bed. The sheets were a pale cream color, and the comforter was bright yellow with brown floral patterns. There were for pale cream pillows, and small bright yellow square pillow. The walls were pastel yellow, and then Ivy saw the fire-place. It had two love seats around it, they were white basket material with yellow cushions. There was a white rug on the floor in front of the brown bricked fire-place, making it pop out more.

Fern stepped forward, big eyes on Ivy. "Ivy.._ Please_?" She begged. Her voice was no higher than a soft whisper, and her hazel eyes were big like a puppy's in pleading. Ivy smiled, then nodded. "Yeah kid, totally. This one is yours." Fern squealed and ran forward, throwing herself on the bed. She moaned, then looked up. "It's so soft. I felt like I'm on a cloud." She threw her face back in a pillow and Ivy rolled her eyes. She walked over and grabbed Fern's arm to pull her back up. "Come on, let's go look at the last two rooms." Fern raised an eyebrow. "But.. I thought it was only four bedrooms?" She asked. Ivy shrugged. "Yeah, that's what I thought. Come on." She grabbed her wrist and had to drag her from the new room.

Ivy went into the door on the right, and smiled. The back wall was completely window like the living room and Willow's room. The bed was round and right in front of the window. Three steps lead up to it. The bed had light red sheets, and a dark red comforter. There was four light red pillows, and nothing else. There were end tables on each side of the bed with a single lamp. A red bean bag lay in the right corner. It was simple, but beautiful. "I like it," was all she said. She smiled one last time, then turned and began to head to the last room. It was the last door on the left, and she slowly pushed the door open, and gasped.

It was a huge indoor pool. It had granite rock around it. She caught her breath, then looked to the back of the room to see stairs. She sighed then walked around the edge of the pool to the stairs. As she climbed, she could hear her passe following her. She got to the top of the stairs to see a single white door. She tilted her head to the side in confusion, then eagerly pushed the door open. Her eyes went wide.

It was a hot tub, at least thirty feet big. She walked over and looked inside to see jets that weren't on at the moment. She looked and the long right side wall was completely glass with doors and an outside balcony. The back of the room had a bar and mini fridge, and above the bar was a copy of the huge living room TV. It was like heaven. Ivy just couldn't believe her and her sisters would be living here from now on. It felt so surreal.

"Dudes, I could _totally_ get used to hanging around this pad." Ivy turned to a very happy Michelangelo. She smirked. "You know, for a while I forgot you guys were even here cause you were just so damn quiet." Mikey looked at her. "Words can't explain this place, so I just didn't try." Raphael chuckled. "That's a first," he mumbled under his breath. Mikey shot a glare at him and stuck his tongue out at him. Donatello stepped forward, looking directly at Ivy.

"Are you sure you'd be okay with us staying the night here? We would hate to intrude." His light brown eyes held her green ones. Mikey scoffed from behind him. "I don't mind!.. _Umph_!" Leonardo elbowed him in the side. Mikey bent over for a moment in pain, then looked up at Ivy with watery eyes. "But only if it's cool with you." He whispered. Leonardo had obviously knocked the breath out of him, and Ivy laughed. "It's completely cool. It'll be more fun with you guys here anyway." They all smiled, but Donatello c;eared his throat. "Uh, I hate to be that guy but.. Where are we going to sleep?" All eyes were on her now, everyone wanting to know the answer. Ivy shrugged. "We'll worry about that when the time comes. Until then, who's up to chill in the hot tub?" There wasn't a single protest.


	10. Spending The Night

**A/N: First off, this story is rated M for a reason, so deal. Second, the last two chapters were too short, so this one is really long, sorry!**

Ivy walked into the bathroom in the hot tub room with her sisters. They were going to change into their bathing suits. Ivy slipped her clothes off and slid on her bikini. It was deep red with black lace trimming. She examined herself in the mirror and smiled. She knew she was hot. She quiet frequently took advantage of this fact. If she wanted something, all she had to do was pull her shirt down a little and show some cleavage and bam, she got whatever it is she had been wanting. Many times other people had called her a whore or slut, but she was anything but that. She was a huge flirt, yes. But she had never slept with a single guy. She and all her sisters were virgins.

Willow's bikini was a dark royal blue, it had golden strings that tied behind her neck and on the sides of her hips. It looked good on her, not exposing as Ivy's, but it was enough that would get any boy excited. Harper's was a peach color. The bikini top had a sash that came down on each side, making an flat "X" shape. Her bottoms were just plain, nothing special. Fern's was the least exposing, but definitely the cutest. It was yellow with white polka dots. The bikini top completely covered her chest region, showing no breast. The bottoms had a small mini skirt over them, but small enough to where you could still see the bottoms. It showed just how innocent she was, it simply screamed "I haven't been kissed yet!"

Once the girls were changed, they went back out into the hot tub room. Fern went out first. Her face was a deep shade of pink in embarrassment. Raph was sitting at the bar and didn't even pay attention when she walked out. Donnie was under the water in the hot tub. Leo was sitting on the edge of the pool with his legs in the water, and he looked up at her with a blank expression. Fern turned to see Mikey sitting at the edge of the diving board, eyes wide. He was looking directly at her which made her blush deepen. She stood there frozen in fear. She probably looked like such a little kid right now..

"Nice, I like the yellow." He was grinning at her. As soon as Fern noticed his smile, everything in her relaxed. This was Mikey. She could come from a cave with twigs all in her hair and body covered in dirt and he'd still smile at her like that. That smile was the one thing that could calm her. She never felt nervous around him, he was her best friend. She was as close to him as you could be with someone. She slowly walked over to the diving board not saying a word. She felt his eyes on her the whole time. She carefully slid herself onto the diving board next to him. He spun around. Both of their legs were straddling the board and they were facing each other.

His baby blue eyes were shinning bright. His smile grew even bigger. Fern felt the warmth from the water creep up her legs, and made her shiver from the cold air above it. He chuckled. "I know, the water's so warm it makes everything else feel freezing." She smiled shyly, still not saying anything. Mikey noticed that she wasn't talking and tilted his head to the side in confusion. "What's wrong?" He asked. She looked away. "Nothing.. Why?" He shrugged. "I dunno, maybe cause you won't talk?" Fern looked up at him, hazel eyes wide. "I'm sorry.. I just don't.. I've never.." She was fumbling with her words, not sure what to say.

Mikey scratched the top of his head. "Haven't what?" Fern sighed, then looked to the water. "I've never really hung out with a guy.. Wearing my bikini." It took Mikey a moment to process what she had just said, and then he felt his face go as red as hers had before. "Oh!.." He cleared his throat nervously. "Well.. Just think of me as your pet or something, not a guy." Fern looked up and raised an eye brow. He shrugged. "You wouldn't mind wearing it in front of your pet would you?" He asked. Fern smiled. "No, but you aren't my pet silly."

Harper came out next, unsure if she really wanted to. She'd been around a lot of people in her bikini, but for some reason this time felt different. Although she couldn't quiet put her finger on why. She slid out the door and looked around. Mikey and Fern were sitting on the diving board together, and they both seemed to be laughing at something. Harper ignored it, and looked for Donnie. She couldn't see him so she stepped forward for a better look. She was at the edge of the hot tub when suddenly there was a loud splash sound and water sprayed all over her. She screamed from surprise, holding her chest where her heart was. She looked down to see a devious grin on Donnie's face.

"You jerk!" She yelled. He just laughed at her. She clenched her fists and stomped her right foot. "It's not funny." She growled. He laughed harder. "You're right.. It's.. Hilarious!" Harper felt her cheeks grow hot in aggravation and without thinking jumped into the air and landed right on top of him. They both plummeted to near the bottom, and Harper felt the warmness of the water surround her. She almost smiled at it's comfort, until she felt Donnie reluctantly try to push her away. Harper opened her eyes, thankful that there was no chlorine in the pool which would have stung her eyes otherwise.

He was looking at her too, grinning. She swatted at him, but it was extremely slow due to the water's density. Donnie's grin grew bigger as he pushed back. Harper kicked off with her legs and went after him. She was a fast swimmer as she had always been. He was fast too, but Harper knew he wasn't really trying. He hadn't expected her to be so fast, and didn't even bother to look behind him. Harper caught up to him easily. She was now swimming directly above him. She smiled as she gripped onto the top part of his shell behind his head.

He seemed to notice her now, because his head turned slightly and he sped up his face. Harper felt him swim faster and faster, water flying past them like he was some kind of underwater jet. She saw the corner of the hot tub come up, and her eyes grew wide as he still quickened his pace. He was trying to scare her into letting go. It didn't work. Instead she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, but not too tight. The turn came abruptly, almost throwing her off. She closed her eyes as she felt her body press against the back of his hard shell. It somehow felt comfortable. She noticed he'd slowed down so she opened her eyes. He was swimming slowly now, but making no notion to try to get her off of him. She loosened her grip and settled herself on his back. She saw the tail of his purple bandana swim behind him in the water, and she knew in that moment that she was happy to be here with him. It somehow felt right.

Willow came out of the bathroom next. She stepped out and noticed Mikey and Fern making silly faces at each other and chuckled. She looked over to see Leo at the edge of the hot tub with his legs dangling in the water. He looked up at her, and grinned. She felt her cheeks burn slightly. Willow grinned back and kept her cool as she walked over to him. Her pace was slow, but determined. She placed herself about half a foot away from him, not wanting to make him uncomfortable. He looked over to her, still partly grinning. "What?" She asked.

Leo hadn't even noticed that he was grinning like an idiot, and inwardly slapped himself. How had he lost focus so easily? He looked at her and realized it was because he had this girl in a bikini sitting next to him, her top exposing a lot. He swallowed hard, shaking his head. This was not him, he did not notice these things about girls. Mikey and Raph were the ones obsessed with womanly body parts. Even Donnie sometimes noticed them, but never Leo. He was always level-headed and focused on anything but that.

So why was this different? He tried to convince himself that it was because she wasn't just a magazine page or on TV, she was less than a foot away from him in the flesh. He knew that wasn't why. It was because it was Willow. There was something about the level-headed brunette that drove him crazy. This was worse than the time in the dojo when she managed to catch him off guard. Something about her made him lose focus, and it scared him. Not even Raph's temper could do that to him. What made her so special. His eyebrows creased as he began to think on that.

"Leo, you alright?" She asked from next to him. He turned back to her. Was it her violet eyes? They drove him mad, making him wonder how a color so beautiful and unique could actually be natural and not contacts. Could it be her hair that fell into perfect waves past her shoulders? Or maybe her lightly tanned skin that looked so soft you could compare it to a baby's. Maybe it was her personality that was oddly almost just like his. She could keep calm and focused, and she was in charge of her sisters and did a damn good job at it. She dealt with Ivy's temper well, better than him with Raph's. Maybe it was..

Then it hit him. It was her everything. Everything about her was amazing. Each and every part of her. It was like someone had taken all the best things you could make someone, and put them all into one body. Not to mention he adored her name. It was unique and beautiful, just like her. He's only known her for two weeks, so why was he feelings a sick turning in his stomach like he'd eaten something bad as he looked at her. "I'm fine." He smiled reassuringly at her, but she crossed her arms and frowned to let him know she wasn't buying it.

"You should tell me the truth." She said. He sighed. What was he supposed to say? 'Oh you're so beautiful you leave me speechless!' He rolled his eyes at the cheesy line you'd find in a crappy chick flick. On top of that, it's not like saying that would make anything go anywhere. Hell, she'd probably just laugh at him. He was a turtle for God's sake! Willow was beautiful and could have probably any boy she wanted. Especially because of the way she could do something that would leave you thinking about it and her. She could have anyone, so why the hell would she choose him?

"I'm just tired." He lied. He was actually wide awake. He could see by the flash in her violet eyes that she knew he was lying, but nodded and didn't argue anymore. If he wanted to talk about it, he would when he was ready. She wasn't going to force it out of him. "Do you want to go lay down or something?" She offered. Leonardo shook his head. "No, I don't want to look rude. I'll stay in here for at least ten more minutes." Willow nodded in approval. "Do you want me to stay here with you?" She asked, a slight edge in her voice. He paused, then looked up at her and smiled. "I'd like that very much."

Ivy came out last. She scanned the room and saw Leo and Willow sitting next to each other on at edge of the pool. Harper and Donnie were in the water swimming around, and Mikey and Fern were sitting on the diving board. Ivy rolled her eyes and walked behind the bar. She looked around and smiled at the rum. She wrapped her fingers around the bottle's neck and pulled it down. A grunt caught her attention, making her turn around. "Hot-shot, why aren't you out there with them having fun?" She asked sarcastically. His dark brown eyes glared at her. "Swimming around looking like a love-struck freak isn't my idea of fun." He growled. Ivy snickered. "You got the freak part down, just need to fall in love." She saw his jaw clench as his eyes bore daggers in her. She laughed. "Yeesh, you're so easy to piss off. It's not even a challenge."

She reached under the counter and pulled out the blender. She plugged it in, then poured rum about one fourth of the way from the bottom. She opened the mini freezer/fridge and pulled out handful of ice. She threw it into the blender as well. She grabbed the sugar and poured 1/4 of a cup into the blender. She went back to the fridge and pulled out a strawberry container and limes. She cut up a single lime and removed the skin. She threw the lime into the blender, then proceeded to cut up the strawberries.

Once she had successfully cut each strawberry in half, she threw them into the blender. She closed the lid and pressed the power button. The screeching of the blender pierced her ears and she frowned. Leaving the blender she walked further behind the bar to a stereo system. She noticed no speakers and looked around the room. She smiled seeing they were all around the room on the ceiling and walls. Suround-sound system. Sweet. She flipped the switch on and a country music station began to blast through the speakers. The singer was saying something about beer and tractors and Ivy groaned. "No, definitely not." She began flipping through stations, finding nothing she was satisfied with.

She turned the blender off as she passed it going back to the bathroom. She opened the door and immediately reached to the sink, grabbing her phone. She closed the door behind her and headed back to the stereo. She went to her music folder, turning it onto shuffle and behind to flip through her songs until she found one she was interested in. She smiled as she found one and plugged the attached headphone jack into her phone. She turned the volume up as the music began to play. It was "Goin' Crazy" by Ashley Tisdale.

Ivy opened the lid to the blender as she reached under the counter and grabbed two glasses. She poured half the drink into a glass, then the last half in the other glass. She passed it to Raph who snorted. "I don't drink bitch drinks." Ivy rolled her eyes. "Have you even had a strawberry daqari before?" He shook his head. "Nope, and I don't want to." Ivy set her glass down and bent over the counter. She mad extra sure that as she pressed her upper body half against the wood it made her breasts bludge. She saw his eyes dart down there for a second, then back up to her. She put on the best puppy dog face she'd ever made. "Please, Raphie? Just a taste.. I made it just for you."

He didn't say anything, but she could tell by the flash in his eyes when she said "Raphie" that he hated the name. He knew well enough to keep silent if she called him a name he hated, because if he told her so she'd say it every chance she got. He sighed, then reached for the glass. He wanted her to put those.. things away. It took everything inside him not to reach over and just grab one. He was trying to hold onto his self control, but with every second she stayed like that, every second he got closer to loosing it. Her green eyes blinked and she smirked. "Good boy." She patted his arm and stood up to drink her drink.

Ivy watched him as he took a sip. She raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to comment on it. He didn't at first but finally did to get her to quit staring at him. "It's alright." Ivy slammed her glass down, almost breaking. "Alright? It's just alright?! I'll let you know, Raphael, that whenever there's a party, they pay me to do mixed drinks. I'm good at it, I'm damn good." He stared at her, confused by her sudden outburst. The drink had been good. It had been really good actually. He took another sip of his drink. "Where'd you learn to mix drinks, anyway?"

Ivy shrugged, taking a sip of her own. "My parents were filthy stinking' rich, but they were never home. They had a bar like this in their house, and I started playing with the drinks around age.. twelve." She grinned by seeing the shock in his eyes. "You'd been drinking since you were twelve? How are you not mentally disabled or something?" Ivy laughed and put a hand on her hips. "Well, I am a daredevil. People say that the drinking so early made me go crazy." She wiggled her eyebrows at that last part, and he chuckled setting his drink down.

"Since you're all only eighteen, how did they allow this bar in here?" He looked at her with questioning eyes. Ivy rolled her own. "Please, that's easy. The apartment is in my mothers name, and she's thirty-six." Raphael nodded in understanding. "And your mom doesn't care?" He asked. Ivy looked away not wanting him to see the flash of pain in her eyes. "Don't you think they noticed the alcohol being gone when they'd get home? They'd always restock it, when they never drank it." She was almost whispering now, and he could hardly hear her over the music, but he did.

"That.. sucks." He wasn't good at situations like this. At all. She turned back to him, eyebrows creased. "Yeah. Me too." With that, she downed her entire drink in a few long gulps then slammed the empty glass down on the counter. She put a hand over her mouth as she did a halfway burp that she held in her mouth. She put her hand down and sighed. "Look, you hold this against me and I'll kill you, no second thoughts. Got it?" He grinned at her. He knew she meant it. "Got it."

Fern laughed at the face Mikey was making as he was telling her a story. He stopped suddenly and began to grin. Fern stopped laughing and looked at him, confused. His grin widened. "Did I ever tell you about how I'm.. BATTLE NEXUS CHAMPION!" He threw his arms up, flexing his biceps. "Oh God, Mikey take that shit somewhere else! We've all heard it!" It was Raphael. "I haven't!" Harper shouted as she stood up from sitting next to Donnie and rushed over to where Mikey and Fern were.

Ivy saw this fuss and looked over at Raphael. This was going to be perfect. She threw the towel down she had been using to dry the glasses and began to walk out from behind the bar. "Yeah, neither have I." She didn't see the look of pure anger he gave her, but she grinned knowing she didn't have to to know it was there. Willow looked up to see Ivy and Harper surrounding Mikey and Fern as he got ready to tell the story. She grinned, shooting an apologetic look to Leo. Before he could even protest she shot up and walked over to sit next to Ivy and Harper as Mikey began to tell the story. Raphael, Donatello, and Leonardo all looked at each other with confused looks.

"Well," he bagan, "it started cause Master Splinter was acting freaky weird. He just left one day and told us to stay home, and we were like nope. So we followed him to this alley and saw him do this weird ritual thing and then the wall began to glow all blue and stuff and he walked through it." Harper began to scoot closer to Willow as her eyes grew wide in amazement. Ivy rolled her eyes knowing that Harper's head must be spinning trying to figure out how it was even possible. Mikey just grinned at her and continued.

"Well, Donnie had brought chalk and some weird light thing.." "UV light!" Mikey shot a glare at Donnie. "I'm telling the story!" Donnie rolled his eyes. "You always do." Mikey ignored him and turned back to the girls. "So he drew the sighs Master Splinter had with the chalk. Then Leo started doing the same freak chant, which gave me goose bumps by the way. So then the wall began to glow blue as expected. I was scared to go in, but Raph pushed me in so I had to go first." There was a chuckle from Raphael at the back of the room, still at the bar.

"We fell into some weird dimension between dimensions and then these weird stick guys started attacking us! They were like trees without any leaves. They were fast, but not fast enough for me! When we won this glowing guy was floating next to us saying we won round 1. Then these big frog guys fell out of another blue portal and everyone got confused. They thought we were those guys! Talk about an insult, they were ugly. And I am not ugly. Then Master Splinter explained to us how it was the Battle Nexus, where warriors came to challenge each other in duels until one was crowned the Battle Nexus Champion.

"Then we found out Splinter had been the Battle Nexus Champion, and we were all like whoah, our dad is bad ass! We entered the contest, and Donnie was the first to get out." He shot Donnie a look as Donnie returned it with a glare. Harper giggled and made his face turn bright red. "Anyway, then something happened and Leo got out. We didn't know this at the time, but he'd be shot by a poison dart." Willow gasped and looked worried at Leo. He chuckled. "I'm fine now. See? No worries." Willow shook her head. "You could have died!" She whined. "But I didn't." He pointed out. Mikey rolled his eyes and continued his story.

"Well then Leo was out, obviously. So that left me and Raph. To the end there was an uneven number of people because of what happened to Leo. His partner that he had been dueling decided to go help him. There was seven of us. We each drew a colored stip from this orb, and whoever we got a matching color with was who we'd duel. I matched colors with this big blue guy who'd I'd pissed off earlier that day, and I was not about to go against him and get my shell kicked. I switched with another guy and got a different color. Unlucky for me, the person I matched with was Raph. I was scared, I'm not gonna lie. By this point I would rather have taken the dangerous looking blue guy."

"It wasn't that bad though. Raph never even touched me. I dodged his attacks easily and did what I do best. I annoyed him until he was so pissed he couldn't think." He grinned. "He was getting so damn annoyed he just started throwing random swings at me, missing by a long shot. I wasn't even trying at this point. It was kind of sloppy, really. Anyway, so then I really made him pissed by saying it'd suck if I beat him, and he charge at me, but I dodged it and he hit the wall. And bam, I beat him."

Ivy turned to look at the now angry turtle. She smirked. "Aw, Raphie did you get the snot kicked out of you?" She teased. He gritted his teeth and slammed his fist on the counter. "He didn't even touch me!" Ivy crossed her arms and shook her head. "That doesn't make it sound any better, you know that right?" He was about to say something, but closed his mouth and let Mikey finish the story. "I'll spare you all the boring details, but I was in the final round with the big blue guy, one of us was going to win. Then the evil guy that had shot Leo with the dark, the Damyio's son, opened some portal with the Damyio's magic septar, and we all started to get sucked up into it. The Damyio closed the portal, which had his son and the evil dragon Draco in there."

"When we finally got ourselves together, I looked down and realized I had accidentally knocked out the blue guy, making me the Battle Nexus Champion!" He was grinning at this point, and Harper just stood up. "How is any of that even possible? That sounds like something that would be in a movie." She walked back over to Donnie, who shrugged. "It's very possible. Would you have thought we were possible if you hadn't met us?" He asked. Harper crossed her arms. "I... Yeah, you're right." She shut up and sat down. Ivy and Willow followed her lead, returning to where they had previously been.

Fern yawned, eyelids fluttering. "I'm tired." She whispered as her head drooped slightly. Mikey stopped grinning and looked down at her. "You wanna go to bed?" He asked. She nodded slowly. He wrapped his arms around her and picked her up bridal style. Everyone looked at him in confusion. "Taking her to her bed, she's tired." They all nodded, then went back to their conversations. Mikey carried Fern down the flight of stairs that led to the lower pool room.

Fern's held her arms against her chest, making herself comfortable. Her red curls fell into her face, untouched by the water. Her eyes were closed and her breathing slowed as her head rested against his arm that supported it. He could feel her hot breath against his cold skin, making him shiver in delight. He scowled and pushed the thoughts that began to run through his mind away. After a couple minutes, he finally reached her door and pushed it open. He turned the light on which made Fern's face scrunch up. He quickly turned the light back off.

He walked over to her bed and pulled the covers back with one arm then layed her down. He saw her begin to shiver so he put the covers back over her and waited a minute. After she didn't stop shivering he looked over to the fire-place. He decided whether it would be a good idea or not. He finally decided it would, so he walked over and looked around. There were no logs or wood, so how was he going to start a fire? He looked around more and noticed a button. He raised an eyebrow, and flipped it.

The fire-place instantly lit up with flames. He jumped back in surprise. After he realized he hadn't burned to death, he crept over to see where the flame was coming from. The floor of the fire place was some kind of metal with small holes every inch or so, and that was where the fire had been coming from. He sighed, then stood up. He looked over at Fern. She had wrapped herself more comfortable in the blanket, and her face was soft. She always looked innocent and vulnerable, but even more so while she slept. The light from the flames licked her face, making it seem to glow. Mikey smiled. She was so beautiful.

He made his way to the door, turning the knob. He had hardly opened the door when a small voice made him turn. "Where are you going?" Fern had turned her head over, her drooping eyes were looking at him questionably. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I uh.. I was gonna go crash on the couch." He stated. Fern grunted. "No, you can stay in here if you want." Mikey's cheeks began to burn as she said it. He swallowed. "Are.. Are y-you sure?" He was stuttering! He must look so stupid to her now. Fern half-heartedly giggled. "Yeah, we're just gonna be sleeping. There's nothing wrong with that. You don't have to if you don't want to."

Mikey turned to the door, staring at the knob for a few seconds before finally sighing and closing it. He turned around to see Fern had layed all the way back down. He began to walk to the other side of the bed, pulling the blanket back. He made sure to keep his distance, so he layed so close to the edge that he was almost falling over. Fern turned over to face him. She noticed they were at least three feet apart and frowned. "Do you not wanna be near me?" She asked.

He turned to her, hurt flashed in her eyes and made him wanna cry. "No, I just didn't think.." He didn't get a chance to finish because the next thing he knew Fern wrapped an arm behind his neck and placed the other over his stomach and pulled herself to him as she layed her head on his shoulder. His jaw dropped. "Fern.. I.." She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. "Mikey, stop talking and go to sleep already." She whispered. Mikey sighed and settled himself down getting more comfortable. He hesitated before resting his cheek on the top of her head as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He hadn't realized just how tired he was until now, and within a two minutes he was fast asleep with her.

"I'm just saying, The Host is completely scientifically incorrect." Harper swatted a hand at Donnie and he ducked. "No one is trying to impress you, Donatello!" She hissed. "Except you!" Harper's face turned red as she whipped her head around to face Ivy. "I am not!" She crossed her arms. "If I was my daily outfit would be khaki pants, a purple flanal button up, and nerd glasses." She huffed. Donnie looked at her with the worst fake hurt expression she'd ever seen. "What are you trying to say?"

Harper smiled as she rolled her eyes. "You're a nerd, we all know it." She pointed out. He shrugged. "So, what makes you think that nerdy girls are my type?" He challenged. Harper smirked. "Oh, so are you into dumb blondes with blue eyes that constantly complain about broken nails and their hair not being perfect?" He paused, then grinned. "I guess you're right." Harper smiled at her win, when he added one more thing. "Although I do like blue eyes." He was looking directly at her now.

She felt her face grow hot. She had blue eyes, and she knew that's exactly what he was referring to. "I.. I uh.. I.." She panicked, trying to find a way out of the situation. "I.." She stood up. "I'm gonna go to my room now. I suddenly feel really tired." She didn't wait for a reply before she practically ran out of the room, leaving Donatello confused and flabbergasted. Ivy glared at him and put her hands on her hips. "What the hell did you say to her?"

Harper ran to the hallway and threw herself into the first door, her room. She slammed the door behind herself and made her way to her closet. She opened the mirror doors and gasped. It was big for a closet. The walls and floors were golden, and there was at least three dozen pairs of pants on the left side, with probably three dozen pairs of shoes below them. On the right side were what seemed like a hundred shirts with more shoes below them. At the very back was a large body mirror.

Harper instantly forgot what just happened and searched through the shirts. It took her almost five minutes to find one she was satisfied with sleeping in. It was a purple and pink galaxy tank top. She opened a dresser and found it was stuffed with underwear, socks, and shorts. Harper pulled our a pair of pink cotton shorts, purple socks, and a white sports bra and thong. She noticed a door between the mirror and dresser. She pushed it open slightly to find what must have been her bathroom.

It was white, completely white. There was a sink to her left with a large square mirror. Past the sink was a spotless porcaline toilet with a white rug next to it. To her right was a shower, and next to it was a large white cabinet. At the back of the bathroom there was a large bath tub that had at least enough room for three people in it. She sighed and walked over to the cabinet and opened it. There was a stack of ten towels, face wash, different kinds of body washes, shampoos, conditioners, wash rags, bath salts, and a face mask.

Harper reached in and pulled out the face mask. She set her clothes on the back of the toliet and walked over to the sink. She turned the water on and wet her face. She popped the cap open and began to smear the pale green cream on her face. Once satisfied, she went back to the cabinet. She smelled the bath salts and picked one that smelled like lavender. She grabbed a peppermint shampoo and conditioner and a towel. She set the bath salts by the tub and walked over to the shower.

She got in and began to wash her hair. She was overtaken by the scent of peppermint and smiled. After about five minutes she was done, turning off the shower then walking over to the tub. She shivered as she waited for the water to rise. Once it was about three inches from the top, she turned the facet off and poured the bath salts in. She stood up then set herself in the tub. She smiled as the hot water surrounded her, relieving her from the cold air.

She tied her hair into a bun to prevent the bath water from getting it wet again. She let her muscles relax, quickly easing all her tension. She layed her back and head against the tub and closed her eyes. She breathed in the sweet smell of lavender and let it fill all her senses. She was trying to forget what Donatello had said, but failed miserably at it. Why had she run off like that? She wasn't made or upset with him, but when he said it she was filled with too many emotions and didn't know what to do. All she could do was panic and run, like she always did.

That's all Harper ever did her whole life. If something happened that intimidated her, she ran from it. She was a girl all about facts, so something that she couldn't understand scared her. Right now, the one thing she couldn't understand was how she felt for Donatello. Sure, she loved being around him. He made her laugh, and made her happy. He understood her in a way that no one could. Every time they touched for any reason, she felt an electric current. She was good at hiding it though, she never flinched or pulled back. She didn't want him to know.

She was good at controlling it and hiding it away, but then he'd say things that made her head spin and her heart beat fast. She ignored it most of the time, but she just couldn't tonight. Tonight he had blatantly stated that he liked her eyes and it was too much. She'd run away just like always. So here she was, laying in a bathtub in a frenzy of confusing emotions she'd never felt before. She knew if he was human, she'd have no issue admitting she liked him. But that was the problem, he wasn't human.

Was it even possible? Let's just say he did feel the same for her, could they even be together? She wouldn't be able to do anything with him without thinking about the fact he's still half turtle. It was kind of hard not to, with the green skin and shell. She sighed. Yes he was half turtle, but he was also half human. Isn't that what mattered? He had feelings like her, ate like her, thought like her, he talks like her, he looked turtle but he was all human. He was the sweetest person she'd ever met. Would she be able to look past his outer self and look to his inner self?

She felt the water begin to cool down, so she sat up and pulled the stopper out. She stood up and rushed to grab her towel. She didn't want to be in the freezing air any longer than she had to. She wrapped the towel around her body and walked over to the sink and began to wash the mask off. Once there was no trace of green, she began to brush her teeth. She went back and began to put on her clothes. Once satisfied she dropped the towel onto the floor and exited the bathroom and into the closet.

She stopped to look at herself in the mirror. She noticed her hair was still up, she pulled it out of the bun and let it fall down, still mostly wet. She looked into her own sapphire blue eyes and smiled. She'd always loved them, but she loved them just a little more than normal. Although she couldn't figure out why. The tank top hugged her body perfectly and showed off her curves nicely. They weren't as bold as Ivy or Willow's, but they were still there. The shorts wrapped around her hips comfortably. Then there was a soft knock at her door.

Harper quickly turned around and rushed out of her closet and shut the door behind her. She walked up to the door. Willow always bothered her when something like this happened, wanting to know what was wrong with her. Harper turned her main light off and turned her ceiling on. She opened the door slowly, and almost slammed it back shut. Standing in her doorway looking at the ground shy and quiet was the one and only Donatello. He wasn't saying anything, just standing there. Not wanting to be rude, Harper sighed as she stepped to the side. "Come in."

He hesitated for a moment, but finally walked into her room. Harper stood, waiting for him to say something as she shut the door. He was looking around the room. Looking at anything but her, she noticed. She cleared her throat. His eyes shot to her, and he shifted uneasily. "I just wanted to say I was sorry, for uh.. Earlier." He looked away again, not wanting to see her reaction. Harper rolled her eyes. "Don't be, it was sweet." He looked back to her, unsure. "Then why'd you run off?" He asked.

Harper felt her cheeks get hot. "I just.. I didn't know what to say back." She mumbled as she walked past him to sit on her bed. He was still standing awkwardly in the middle of her room. Harper patted the spot on her bed next to her, offering him to sit down. He sighed and went to sit next to her. He set his hands in his lap, playing with his thumbs and staring down at them. Harper instantly felt bad for him. Had she really made him feel this bad about it?

She set her hand on his shoulder softly. "Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal." He looked up at her, directly into her eyes. She had to catch her breath. His golden carmel eyes were stong with emotion, but what emotion she couldn't tell. "It won't happen again." He promised quietly. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, "Who said I didn't want it to happen again?" She could have slapped herself. What the hell was she talking about! She didn't want it to happen again.. Did she?

As he stared at her, he tried putting his mind into another place. It became frantic and desperate, and the first thing that came to his mind was The Little Mermaid. He frowned as that stupid famous song "Kiss The Girl" began to play in his head. He groaned and closed his eyes. What the hell was going on? What was he doing to himself? He knew she didn't care about him like that. He was a damn turtle. She'd want a human, not him. He turned to look at her. Her blue eyes were looking into his brown, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. She was worried. Song lyrics began to fill in his mind.

_"Sha-la-la-la-la, my oh my, looks like the boys too shy_  
_Ain't gonna kiss the girl.."_

He sighed, wondering what to do. She scooted closer to him, her big eyes were more full of worry than they were a few seconds ago. "Are you okay?" She asked. He paused before looking at her. "No.." he whispered. Harper frowned. "What's wrong?" She asked. He looked into her eyes with longing. It was longing he'd never felt before, and he just couldn't ignore anymore. She wasn't even a foot away from him, and he was about to take advantage of that. He leaned forward slightly, unsure if he really wanted to risk this.

_"Sha-la-la-la-la ain't that sad?_  
_It's just a shame, too bad.."_

He pushed all the worried thoughts in his head away. He wanted to ignore it. What if she felt the same? He couldn't tell her how he felt, all he had left was to show her. He held his breath and fully leaned in, closing his eyes.

_"You're gonna miss the girl.."_

His lips finally met hers. They were soft and warm, just like he'd always imagined them to be. Then all the fear hit him again, and he yanked back. His eyes were wide, scared of what she would do. She just stared at him, her expression unreadable. It was so blank it scared him. She looked ready to kick him out, to punch him, to scream, to... Before he could react she cupped his face in her hands and pulled him back into another kiss.

This one was different from the first. There was no hesitation, no fear, and best of all, she was kissing him back. It was slightly awkward since his mouth was a lot bigger than hers, but they both ignored it. Part of Harper screamed for her to stop, that this was wrong. She ignore it and pushed further into the kiss by opening her mouth. He followed her lead, and she let her tongue slip out and barely brush his lips. She felt him tremble, making her smile and wrap her arms around his neck.

She pressed herself closer to him, enjoying this a lot more than she really should. She knew she shouldn't be doing this, but she didn't care. Right now all she cared about was Donatello. She pressed him back against her bed and sat on top of him. Their tongues began to dance together in a kind of frenzy. After a moment, she felt him pull away a couple of inches. His eyes looked into hers, they were glowing in a way. "How can you do this? Doesn't it bother you that I'm..-" She cut him off with a kiss. "Shut up.." She whispered against his lips. "Just_ shut up_ and keep kissing me." He did as he was told.

She adjusted her hips that were now straddling him, trying to get more comfortable. She felt a small growl come from the back of his throat and she giggled. She noticed that his arms were just laying against the bed, and this irritated her. She picked them up and placed his hands on her hips. He didn't object, and let his hands slide further back and onto her ass. She gasped as he squeezed slighty. She felt him smile into their kisses, and she smiled back. She began to slide her shirt up, when she felt his hands stop her. She pulled back and looked into his eyes.

They were darker now, almost the color of Raphael's. "What's wrong?" She asked, slightly hurt by him stopping her. Did he not want her? "It's too early." His voice was deeper somehow. To anyone else, it would have sounded scary. To Harper it was the sexiest damn thing she'd ever heard. She wanted nothing more to move forward, ignoring his warning. But she sighed, knowing he was right. She layed down against his plastron as he pulled the covers over them, ready to just go to sleep.

It had taken almost everything in him to stop her. The animal in him screamed to just keep going, to let her have her way with him. But he knew that it was extremely early and didn't want to take advantage of her in any way. He cared about Harper, he cared about her a lot. He wrapped his arms around her as she began to fall asleep against him. The animal was slowly beginning to fade away, and all the love he felt for her came bubbling up. He smiled as he nuzzled her head with his nose. She smelled like peppermint, and he loved it. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep with the girl of his dreams safely in his arms.

Willow layed back against the ground and closed her eyes. She was so tired she could fall asleep right here and now. She sighed as she began to drown out the music and the sound of Raphael and Ivy arguing over something pointless as always. "Someone looks tired." Willow popped an eye open and looked up at Leonardo. He was sitting next to her, looking down at her and smiling in amusement. "It's almost three in the morning, I am tired." She sighed and closed her eyes.

Suddenly she felt strong arms pick her up and stand her on her feet. Her eyes flew open as she began to sway. "Whoah.." He steadied her, then looked into her violet eyes. "Uh.. You want me to carry you to your bed?" He asked. Willow almost argued, but knew she was too tired to walk. She smiled sweetly. "Piggy-back ride?" She asked. She knew she sounded childish, but she didn't care. He grinned and turned around, squatting slightly. Willow jumped onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck as his arms supported her legs. She rested her right cheek against the back of his head as he began to walk down stairs.

It was oddly comfortable to her, him carrying her like this. She felt safe with him. She kept her eyes closed, but trying to stay awake until she got to bed. She finally heard the sound of a door gently being shut and she opened her eyes. They were in her room now. Even though the light was off, it was still lit because of the huge window-wall that let the moonlight shine in. Willow let herself down from his back and walked lazily to her bed. She threw herself onto it and sighed into it's comfortness. It was obviously a Temperpedic.

Leonardo stood there looking at her then cleared his throat. "Aren't you going to change?" He asked. Willow opened her eyes and looked up at him. "You wanna see me change?" She asked, confused. Leo's face turned bright red. "No! I just didn't think you'd want to sleep in your bathing suit!" Willow laughed. "I know, I know. Will you be a doll and just grab me some clothes from the closet?" He nodded and headed to the closet door on the right side of the room.

It was big, it had shoes and pants on the left side, and shirts and more shoes on the left. There was a dresser and huge body mirror at the back. There was a door next to it, but he ignored it. He searched through the shirts awkward, and decided on a pastel blue tank top. Going though the dresser he pulled out a pair of white shorts when something hit him. She was going to need underwear and a bra. He slammed the dresser shut immediately, face burning. Why did she have to have him do this?

He opened the dresser again slowly and grabbed the first pair of underwear he could find, which happened to be a grey thong. He sighed and grabbed a black sports bra. Walking out of the closet he set the clothes next to her. She was already asleep. He sighed then gently shook her awake. "Hey.. I got your clothes." She opened her eyes and looked at him. "Oh.. Uh, just go wait in the closet. I'll tell you when I'm done." He nodded then headed to the closet and shut the door behind him.

A moment later he heard her call his name and he stepped back out, turning the light off behind him and shutting the door. He stood awkwardly while she lay across her bed. She stared at him. "You're not good at matching, are you?" She asked teasingly. He shrugged and smiled shyly. "I don't have much experience.." Willow nodded. "Right." He sighed. "I'm gonna go to the couch." He turned, ready to walk out of the room when Willow cleared her throat. "Uh, can I be honest with you?" She asked.

He stopped, and turned around surprised. "Yeah, what is it?" She fiddled with her thumbs nervously. "I uh.. I can't sleep in a new place on the first night.." He raised an eye brow and she looked up at him, swallowing. "Alone." It took him a second, but realization hit him. She was asking him to stay with her for tonight. He nodded and walked to the love seat across from the TV and sat down. He could have sworn he saw slight disappointment in her eyes, but he figured it was just in his head. He got comfortable on the love seat, and eventually fell asleep.

Ivy had just finished cleaning up the bar. She yawned as she decided to let the last song play on the stereo. It had just started, but she loved it. It was "Set It On Fire" by My Darkest Days. She walked from behind the bar and climbed the stool that was next to Raphael and placed herself on the bar facing him. They were both drunk, they'd been drinking for the past two hours. It had been almost thirty minutes since Leo had take Willow to her room. Ivy saw Raph turn to her and she cocked her head to the side.

"You tired yet?" She asked. He shook his head. "Nah, I'm a night person." Ivy grinned. "Another thing we have in common." He raised an eyebrow at her and turned to face her. "Now what?" Ivy looked at him confused, then realized he was asking what were they going to do since everyone had gone to bed. Ivy thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I dunno Raphie, you tell me?" He narrowed his eyes. "I was hoping_ you_ would tell me,_ princess_." Ivy narrowed her eyes back at him.

"Asshole."

"Bitch."

"Dick."

"Cunt."

"Prick."

"Slut."

Ivy was an inch from his face. Although there was hostility in their voices, their eyes danced with excitement. Ivy opened her mouth and whispered her last insult.

"_Freak_."

She could feel his breath on her face now. It smelled deeply of alcohol, and her head began to spin. She blinked rapidly, trying to regain her focus. She failed. She didn't even realized she had fallen off the bar until she felt strong arms around her. She opened her eyes to see she was face-to-face with Raphael. His chocolate eyes were looking straight into her green ones. She looked down and noticed she was straddling him. She looked back up at him, waiting for him to push her off. He didn't.

Instead he pushed her back against the bar and leaned forward. "You're a bitch, you know that right?" He hissed. Ivy laughed. "Yeah, what's your point?" She asked. He narrowed his eyes. "This." Before she could react his lips crushed hers. She surprised him and herself when she didn't pull away. She felt his arms grab the bar on each side of her, holding her in place. She opened her mouth, inviting him in. She knew it was mostly the alcohol controlling her, but she was just too damn drunk to care.

His tongue went inside her mouth and she let him. They began to deepen the kiss, getting hotter and hotter. Finally he pulled away from her, looking into her eyes. "Uh..." He didn't know what to say, confused as to what just happened. Ivy smirked. "Wanna go to my room?" She offered. A grin spread across his face as he picked her up, keeping her in the same position she was in. She laughed and wrapped her arms and legs around him as she began to kiss him again.

"I... have to see... to walk." Ivy pulled away frowning. "Ugh, fine." He laughed. "Impatient." She grinned back at him. "Look who's talking, you're almost running." He just noticed how fast he was moving, and slowed his pace. Ivy glared at him. "Did I say slow down?" She hissed. Raphael chuckled as he rounded the corner to her bedroom. He opened the door and slammed it shut behind him. He walked up the steps to her bed and placed her on the bed, landing on top of her.

Ivy felt his arms hold her closer to him. She ran her hand up his bicep, then behind his head as she pressed the kiss deeper. She was really enjoying this, maybe a little too much. He moved to kiss her cheek, then down to her neck. She felt his hot breath as he began to nibble there. She gasped in pleasure. He growled at hearing this, and she grinned. She held onto his head, directing it further down. He reached her upper chest area. Then he finally got to the area she'd impatiently been waiting for him to reach.

He ran his tongue between each breast, making her shiver. He reached behind her back and undid her bikini top. She didn't even give him time because she took it off eagerly. She saw him stare down at them, eyes wide. She rolled her eyes. He grinned and placed his head back down, continuing to lick her. She was loving it. Maybe it was because she had never let any boy get this far with her. The most she'd do is make out with them for a while, but as soon as they went to touch her she'd shove them away. She hated it. So why was she so okay with this? Even when she was drunk she'd told other men no.

She felt herself start to get more and more aroused, and she knew he'd noticed this because he began to growl. It was the kind of growl that would have sent anyone running, but it made Ivy more aroused and she shoved him over and placed herself on top of him. She shoved her lips to his as she felt his hands grip her ass. She smiled and heated the kiss, silently telling him not to stop. She gasped as he slid his hands into her bikini bottoms.

They stayed like this for a moment before Ivy became impatient again. She grabbed one of his hands and slid it underneath her and between her thighs. "Are you sure?" His voice was raspy and rough. It was _so_ fucking _hot_. Ivy glared. "Do you feel how fucking wet I am? Of course I'm sure! I want you._ Now_." He looked into her eyes. His eyes were darker now, almost black. Ivy knew this could be dangerous, that his inner animal could come out and hurt her. She didn't care. She wanted him.

She raised his hand then slid it into her bikini, leaving no barrier between her and him. She moaned when she felt his finger begin to rub her. He did this a minute more before surprising her by sliding a finger inside her. She gasped, sinking her nails into his arms. He grinned at his, and went further. "Take. Them. _Off_." She growled. He obeyed, sliding them down her legs. She eagerly kicked them across the room. She kissed him deeply again, and then stopped.

"Uh, where is it?" She asked. He knew exactly what she was talking about. It had swollen inside his shell since the moment they'd entered the bedroom. He almost hesitated before letting it fall out. "_Oh.. My.. God.._" Ivy's eyes were round, she looked almost.. scared? Raphael gritted his teeth. "What?" He asked. Ivy shook her head at him. "It's.. It's _huge!_" She turned back to him and continued to kiss him. The words from the song that played that night when they talked on the roof began to run through her mind.

_"The more I feel the pleasure, the more I feel the pain_  
_I'm in a love hate relationship too deep to escape_  
_Everyday is a gamble, that's the risk that I take_  
_In a love hate relationship and you are to blame.."_

She felt his barely touch her entrance, and she wanted him in her right then. That's all she wanted. _Him_.

_"And the higher you take me, the farther I fall_  
_In a love hate relationship and you I have lost.."_

She felt him slide into her, and she almost screamed from the pain. She didn't stop him, she wanted this. It hurt, but it only hurt for about half a minute. Then she felt him move in and out of her, slowly speeding his pace. In minutes they were both too far gone and lost in each other to turn back. Neither of them regretted this. They'd both wanted it. Ivy felt herself getting close, and so was he. In less than a minute, they both yelled together, shaking and desperately holding onto each other, panting.

_"I have to forgive you, for all of your flaws_  
_In a love hate relationship and you're all I want.."_


	11. Simple Distractions

**A/N: Okay, this is quick. When I write this I picture their voices as that of the ones they had in the 2003 cartoon, but you can read their voices however you want! **

Leonardo woke up to the sun shining on his face. "Shit." He hissed and shot up. It'd be almost impossible to get back to the lair without being seen. He should have said no last night, he should have known better. He turned to look at the peacefully sleeping Willow. Her brown waves fell around her face, her eyelid were closed and she was breathing softly. She was the reason he decided to stay. He was worried about leaving them, her, alone. Even though this place had the best privacy and protection money could buy, he felt better if he could protect her with his own hands. He didn't know what he would do if something happened to her and he hadn't been there to save her.

He shut his eyes tightly. He didn't need to worry about that right now. What he needed to worry about was getting his brothers and getting home safety. As he walked out the door he decided they wouldn't be staying the night again. At that thought his heart jumped, and he knew he wouldn't be able to follow through with that. He sighed as he walked down the hall to the living room. Once he entered he frowned. It was empty. Had they gone home without him? Then something hit him. He wasn't the only one who'd spent the night in a girls room.

In a blind fury he stormed down the hall and opened the first bedroom door. The main light was off, but the ceiling was on. This was Harper's room he realized. He looked to the bed and scowled. Donnie was layed in bed with her. He was laying on his shell, arms wrapped around her. Her head was laying on his chest and she had one arm lazily laying over his stomach. Leonardo narrowed his eyes. "Donnie." He whispered. Nothing. He rolled his eyes. "_Donnie!_" He whispered louder.

Finally Donnie's eyes popped open and he turned to see Leo in the doorway, glaring at him. Donnie looked down to see Harper laying next to him, and smiled. He slowly but gently rolled her to her other side. He sent a quick prayer, thanking God she was a heavy sleeper. He got out of bed silently and walked into the hallway with Leo, shutting the door behind him. He paused for a moment, then bravely turned to face his angry brother.

Leo was standing with his arms crossed, a scowl on his face. His eyes were narrowed in a challenging manner. He pointed his thumb to Harper's door. "What the_ hell_ was that?" He growled. Donnie blushed, then shrugged. He began to move on his feet uneasily as he tried his best to explain. "I uh.. Felt bad for making her run off. I came to apologize and she wasn't mad at all. We were just talking and then we kissed." Leo's eyes widened slightly, and Donnie knew it was because he was surprised, and angry.

"It wasn't a big deal! All we did was kiss, I swear!" He didn't want Leo mad at him. He'd seen him mad at Raph, and even Mikey. But Leo rarely ever got mad at him for anything. Donnie was the one that tried to stay out of everyone's way. "Not a big deal? Tell me how it's not a big _deal_, Donnie? You know you can't be with her! It's not even possible!" He was still whispering, but Donnie could tell if their weren't people sleeping he'd be screaming.

"And how do you know it's not possible? As far as I'm concerned, it is possible." Donnie argued. Leo looked like he was about to yell, but instead he squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed between then with two fingers. After a moment he said, "Only because you want it to be." Donnie shook his head. "And you're only saying it isn't possible because you're scared. You can't protect us forever, Leo. You have to let us make our own mistakes." He knew Leo was only getting mad because he was worried for their safety, but this was something Donnie couldn't help himself with. He felt something for Harper, something more than just friends.

Leo sighed, opening his eyes to look at his younger brother. "I just don't want to see you get hurt." He whispered. Donnie smiled halfway and shrugged. "Well I'll be hurt if you don't let me see her." Leo looked at him, then nodded. "Fine, but I'm warning you Donnie. If you get hurt, _don't_ say I didn't warn you." Donnie's smile grew, and then he did something Mikey would do. He rushed over and gave Leo a bear hug. "Thank you!" He whispered. Leo awkwardly pushed him off and cleared his throat. "Uh.. Let's go find Raph and Mikey." Donnie nodded, and they crossed the hall and opened Fern's door.

Mikey was on the floor by the bed. He had an arm over his eyes and his mouth was wide opened as he snored. It was obvious he had been on the bed at one point and had fallen off sometime in the night. Fern was on the further side of the bed facing the back wall with the blanket wrapped around her. Leo rolled his eyes and walked in quietly. He shook Mikey by the shoulders, waking him. Mikey shot up, blue eyes darting around like for a second he didn't know where he was.

He looked over at the bed and saw Fern sleeping and sighed. He looked over to see Leo kneeling next to him. His eyes showed he was slightly annoyed by where he'd found Mikey, but he didn't say anything. He just stood up and reached his hand down to help Mikey stand up. Mikey took it willingly, and once he was up he saw Donnie in the doorway grinning. Mikey shot his tongue at him. "It wasn't like that!" He whispered. Donnie looked like he was about to say something when Leo interrupted him. "Yeah, well it was like that for Donnie." Mikey stopped and looked between the both of them, confused.

At first he didn't get it, then it hit him. He gave a wicked grin at Donnie and winked. "You sly dog!" Donnie rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "For the _fifth_ time, it _wasn't_ like that! All we did was kiss!" Mikey walked over still smiling and placed a hand on Donnie's shoulder. "Yeah, whatever you say bro." He knew Donnie was telling the truth, but he loved teasing him. Leo pushed them out of Fern's room and shut the door behind him. "Save this for later, we've gotta get Raph and get home." They all nodded and continued to head down the hall.

Donnie still felt uneasy about the fact Leo had caught him in bed with Harper. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Come on Leo, it's not like we had sex or something." Leo shot a looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "You're lucky you didn't, because words wouldn't be able to explain how dead you would be." Donnie chuckled at this. He had no doubt in his mind that his brother had meant it. He saw how mad he got when him and Harper had only kissed, he couldn't imagine what he would have done if he thought they'd had sex. Leo was like a mother in a way to them, freaking out if they did anything that could get them in trouble or hurt.

Mikey paused at Ivy's door and glanced at Leo. "You don't think.." Donnie shook his head. "No way, they hate each other." Mikey grinned and shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt to check." He sent a wink, and reached for the door knob. Donnie and Leo reached their arms out, trying to stop him. "No, Mikey don't!" They were too late. Mikey had already opened the door half way and peaked in. His eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped. "Holy.. Fucking.. _Shit_.. Dude." He whispered. Leo knew that very moment something was up and pushed the door open all the way.

Donnie walked between them to see what all the fuss was about, and gasped. There were pillows thrown across the room, and Ivy was laying in bed with messy hair and was naked. You couldn't see anything because a sheet covered her, but her bikini top was hanging over one of her bedside lamps, and her bottoms were somewhere across the room. Laying in bed right next to her sound asleep, was Raphael. Mikey swallowed nervously, and turned to look at Leo's face.

It was twisted in fury, and his brownish-green eyes were practically flames at this point. His fists were clinched at his sides, ready to tear something apart. Donnie saw this and pushed him back slightly. "Mikey, take Leo into the living room. _Now_. I'll get Raph." Mikey shot a look at Donnie, showing how scared he was to deal with the furious older brother, but nodded and began to push Leo down the hall. Surprisingly, Leo didn't fight back against him.

Donnie sighed with relief, then began to tip toe over to the bed. He knew waking Raph up this early could easily be a death warrant. If Leo had done it, all hell would have broke lose and one of them wouldn't be going home alive. Leo and Raph were always at each others throats fighting. This could possibly be the one thing that made them separate completely. Donnie held his breath an gently shook Raph's shoulder. Raph shot an eye open, looking up at Donnie.

"Uh.. You need to get up. We have to get home." Raph opened both eyes now, then turned to look behind him. He saw Ivy's sleeping body, and grinned. He turned back to Donnie and pointed behind him with a thumb, raising an eyebrow. Donnie rolled his eyes. "Just get up." Raph stopped grinning and sat up. He rubbed his eyes, then stretched. Once satisfied, he stood up and began to walk to the door with his brother. Donnie stopped him at the doorway.

"Now what?" He growled. Donnie cleared his throat. "Just a heads up, Leo's really pissed. I mean really pissed." Raph smirked at this. "Wouldn't expect anything else." Donnie shook his head. "Raph I've never seen him this mad. Ever." Raph shrugged. "Oh well, ain't nothing I can't handle." He pushed past his brother and began to head down the hall. Donnie stood there shaking his head, "He's in for it big time," then he followed his older brother to the living room.

Leo sat on the couch almost shaking in fury. How dare he?! He knew better than this! There was no excuse for this! Leo could barely make out what Mikey was saying next to him. Suddenly Mikey went quiet, and there was electic tension in the room. Leo shot his head up to see Raph standing above him with his arms crossed. It took everything in himself not to stand up and punch him dead in the face. Not here, not right now. He stood up and walked right past him.

"We're going to try to get to the Battle Shell without being seen. Grab your coats. Donnie, help Raph load his bike into the Battle Shell." His voice was shaking as he held in the anger. He thought he heard a noise of objection from Raph, but chose to ignore it. He grabbed his coat and hat, throwing the door open. He didn't bother to look behind him to see if they followed, he stomped all the way out to the Battle Shell. He got in and set in the passenger seat. About thirty seconds later Donnie opened the driver's seat door and hopped in. He heard Mikey and Raph get in the back.

For the first five minutes of the ride no one said anything, that was until Mikey got bored. "Hey guys let's play a game!" He offered. Leo glared out the window, crossing his arms. "Yes, let's. How about the _quiet_ game?" He asked. Mikey took the hint, puckering his bottom lip as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. Raph turned to look at Mikey and pointed to the front with his thumb. "What's eating him?" He asked, like he didn't already know.

Within ten minutes they were at their garage. Donnie turned on the security and then got out of the Battle Shell. They opened the man-hole and jumped down into the sewer. Raph was the last to jump down. As soon as he hit the ground, something hard collided with his face sending him stumbling backwards. He opened his eyes to see a very pissed off Leonardo standing in front of him, pulling his fist back. "What the_ hell_ were you thinking, Raph? Are you_ crazy_?!" He spat.

Raph narrowed his eyes. "Yeah Leo, I've gone bat-shit crazy because I got_ laid_." Leo gritted his teeth together. "Do you realize just how _stupid_ you are?" Raph stood up strait and crossed his arms. "Okay Fearless, where'd you sleep last night? Cause I sure as _hell_ didn't see you on the couch when we finally went to her room." Leo clenched his fists together. He knew what he was about to say would make him sound like a hypocrite, but it just wasn't like that!

"Yes, I stayed the night in Willow's room, but-" Raph cut him off. "But what? You didn't wanna at least touch her? Is that what you're trying to convince me? Cause I ain't buyin' it." He took a step forward, he had never been afraid of his older brother. Leo's frown began to show teeth. "No, I didn't! I slept on the other side of the room from her! She offered me her bed, but I said no." Raph laughed out loud. "Oh, like you didn't want to? We've all seen the way you look at her." Leo's frown faded.

"I don't look at her any way." He said calmly. Raph shook his head. "That's_ bullshit_, and we all know it. You look at her with the_ same_ damn look Donnie gives Harper, the same look Mikey gives Fern, and the same damn look I gave Ivy last night._ Admit_ it Leo, you_ like_ her." He poked his older brother in the chest, then walked right past him. He growled under his breath. This was not how he would have preferred to start his day the morning after getting laid the first time.

Suddenly he was thrown against the ground, someone holding his arms behind his shell. "What's the big..-" "You can't see her anymore." Leo hissed in his ear. Raph stopped struggling for a second. Had he heard him right? He ground his teeth together. There was no way in hell Leo was going to tell him who he could see. He gathered all his strength in himself and easily threw Leo off. Raph did a back flip to stand himself up straight, pointing directly at Leo who was now laying in the sewer water, hand on his head.

"You don't get to tell me what the_ fuck_ to do! I'm nineteen, and I'm not your kid. You may be leader, but you're _not_ my boss. Don't you _dare_ try to tell me I can't see Ivy again. It's my choice, not yours!" He was yelling now, furious. "When you were busy fucking around with_ Karai_ we told you to stop, but did you? No, you fucking didn't! And we-" he gestured to himself and his other two brothers, "paid the price along with you. So you have no room to talk to say _anything_ to any of us about women. Got it?"

Leo looked up at him. Hearing Karai's name brought back old feelings he'd put away for a while. Raph knew Karai was a touchy spot for him, and he chose not to care at this point. When Raph brought up how his brothers had been hurt by Leo's mistake only made it worse. At the moment he was feeling too many emotions to be able to control himself. No meditation technique Splinter had taught him could help him. The truth was is that he's as emotional as Raphael, he's just good at controling it.

Not right now, right now he was about to blow. He was feeling anger, jealousy, confusion, and.. guilt. He shot his eyes open and glared up his younger brother, who was also glaring. They stayed like that for a moment until Leo got control enough to be able to speak. Then he said something he still regrets to this very day. "How do you know she even_ feels_ the same, Raph? You sure it wasn't just a nice little _fuck_ for her, and that she won't act like you don't mean shit the next time you see her?" He whispered it calmly. A little too calmly.

This must have sparked something in Raphael, because in the next instant he was on top of Leo with a sai stabbed into the concrete barely an inch from Leo's face. "Just because that _bitch_ did that to you, doesn't mean Ivy will. Say something like that again, and I won't hesitate to hurt ya." He growled deeply. His eyes were glowing embers of flame. He pulled his sai up and placed it back into his belt then strut past Leo, not bothering to give a second glance to any of his brothers.

The first thing Harper felt herself being aware of was how soft the bed was that she was laying in. She opened her eyes halfway, confused as to where she was. She turned onto her back and began to gaze into the cluster of pink and purple stars moving around in circles above her head. She layed in awe and let the beautiful puzzle mesmerize her. She smiled and settled back into her bed and pillow as she remembered that this was her knew home. Her knew home with Ivy, Fern, and Willow.. She froze and her eyes grew wide.

She began to remember last night. The knock on her door, Donnie nervously standing in her doorway, him coming in her room fumbling on his words trying to apologize, and then he.. kissed her. Harper gently brushed her lips with her finger tips as she remembered that kiss. She'd been kissed plenty of times, sure. This kiss was different. It was sweet, and soft. Every kiss she'd had before had been hungry and full of lust. She remembered seeing the scared look in his eyes as he pulled back, afraid she would reject him.

"Donatello, oh my dear, sweet Donatello. You know almost everything there is to know, but you can't tell when a girl is falling madly in love with you." She whispered to herself. She smiled and closed her eyes, letting the night reply in her head over and over. Oddly enough the kiss wasn't even the part that continued to replay its self. It was how they had tangled themselves under water, acting like two love-struck dolphins. She remembered how safe she'd felt when she let him guide her under the water.

He always made her feel safe. Especially last night with the way he held her in his arms. He held her gently, but firmly. She knew that if a hundred of those nasty assassin men had jumped into her room he would have pushed her back and gave his life to save her. Her eyes opened as a strange pain pierced her heart. The thought of her sweet turtle getting hurt or dying was enough to put her through misery. She rolled over, confused.

Is this love? Is this what love feels like, or was it just infatuation and lust? She sighed. Whatever it was, it was damn strong. And she liked it that way. She had a bad feeling by the end of all this, someone was going to get severely hurt. She pushed the thought away and hugged her pillow close to her. She noticed that it smelled familiar. It smelled like Donatello. She smiled sweetly as she breathed in the musky water smell. She didn't care anymore, she was happy for now and that's all that mattered.

Fern shot up in bed. She'd had another nightmare. She shot her head to the spot on the bed next to her. She was filled with the pain of disappointment as she realized she was alone. She sat for a moment catching her breath, then sat against the white frame of her bed. Her father wasn't here anymore, he was out of her life. He had died that night, she'd seen the gash in his leg and how badly it had bled. Besides that, she was safe here in this apartment with Ivy, Willow, and Harper.

She was safe with Michelangelo. She glanced again at the empty spot next to her. Was she even really with him? She had to remind herself that they weren't staying in the lair with them anymore, and that he'd only be visiting twice a week. She felt almost empty. It was the first time in two weeks she'd been without him. She was beginning to grow attached and need the childish turtle more than she thought. He was sweet to her, and he cared a lot. So what did it all mean?

She knew that she cared about him too, but what kind of care? Whenever she was with him she felt safe, happy, at home. He made her feel complete. She could tell that he annoyed everyone around him. Everyone but her. While they all shrugged his lame jokes off and ignored him when he wanted attention, Fern was there to laugh at his jokes and give him the attention he needed. She'd had crushes on boys before, but this felt different.

It was stronger than a crush, but she didn't think it was love. Yet it didn't quite feel like the same kind of love she felt for her sisters. She stared at her ceiling in confusing. If she did like him, would he even feel the same? Where they even attracted to humans, or did they look at turtles in that way? She giggled at the thought of Mikey falling in love with some random sea turtle. Then she sighed. What was going on? She needed to know, and she need to figure it out soon.

Ivy pulled the blankets over her head. The sunlight shinning through her windows seemed to be enough to blind someone. She felt slightly chilled, so she wrapped her around around her. She eyes shot open. Why was she naked? Ivy blinked, then threw the covers off herself and looked around her room and almost screamed. Pillow were thrown, her bikini top was slung across a lamp, and her bottoms were laying across her bean bag in the corner of her room.

She looked next to her and sure enough was a spot where someone had previously been sleeping. She put a hand to her mouth as everything came rushing back to her. She vaguely remembered Raphael kissing her, them going to her room, him taking her top off.. She made a sound that could have been taken as a cry for help. She tried to block the memories, but couldn't. Everything came back like it happened only five minutes ago. That wasn't even the worst part.

The worst part was that Ivy wanted to slap herself. She should feel disgusted with herself, but she didn't. She tried so deeply to feel disgusted and regret, but she couldn't. The only thing she felt was shock, and something else that she wasn't sure what it was yet. Thinking about it made her feel hot all over again, she began to want it again. She shook her head sharply. She'd lost her virginity to a turtle, for God's sake! What the hell was she going to tell the girls?

She wasn't. She was going to keep this a secret, locked up inside her. There was no way in hell she'd admit to anyone this happened. She was drunk, she didn't mean to do it. She hadn't want this to happen.. Had she? She felt her stomach growl and remembered she hadn't eaten dinner. She rolled her eyes and stood up to grab some clothes, when a burning pain in her stomach made her double over and bite back a scream.

Willow rubbed her eyes as she cracked the sixth egg into the skillet and began to scramble them. It was almost eleven in the morning, and as always she was the first to wake up. She flipped the bacon over and yawned. She jumped as the oven began to beep. She sighed and popped it open, pulling the toast out with a hot pad. She hated being the only one who knew how to cook. She wished for once Ivy or Fern could cook. They all knew better than to let Harper near a kitchen alone because of the microwave insident. It'd turn from simply boiling noodles to a full on science experiment.

"Smells good, sis." Willow turned to smile as her twin sat at one of the chairs in the dinning area. "Yeah? I decided since it was our first morning here everyone deserves a nice home cooked breakfast." Harper nodded sleepily as Willow turned back to the food. She slid the last batch of bacon onto the glass plate. She set the skillet to the back of the stove then dumped the eggs onto the plate. She turned to the cabient and pulled down four plates, along with some forks and a butter knife. She walked over to the fridge and pulled out a brand of grape jelly she'd never even heard of before.

When she tunrned to take it all to the table, she saw Fern was at the table too. Willow smiled warmily at her and set the plates in front of her. "Set these out will ya? Harper, bring the food over to the table, I'm going to get Ivy." They both nodded and began to do their jobs. Willow stood for a second with her hands on her hips and shook her head as she smiled. She finally turned and walked past the living room and down the hall. It was no suprise Ivy was still sleeping. Ivy could sleep for two days strait if you let her. That girl sure loved her sleep.

Willow didn't bother knocking. She just pushed the door open to find Ivy bent over her bed with her hands on her stomach. "Ivy!" She ran to sit next to her. Ivy was already dressed for the day in a white tank top and a pair of dark deniem skinny jeans. She looked up at Willow, green eyes blazing. "I'm fine! It's just cramps!" Willow raised an eyebrow. "Ivy, you got off your period barely two weeks ago, it's too soon." Ivy shrugged. "It could come early." Willow rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Yeah, whatever. But hey, I made breakfast. It's ready. Harper and Fern are in the kitchen, they're.." She trailed off as she noticed Ivy's bikini top on the lamp. She turned back to Ivy who was looking at her innocently. "What's that?" Willow asked calmly. Ivy shook her head. "What's what?" Willow crossed her arms. "Don't give me the whole 'what's what' like you don't know. Your bikini, why is it hanging from the lamp shade?" She was staring directly at Ivy now.

Ivy smirked. "I got lazy, didn't feel like putting it up." Willow scoffed. "Oh, so you just threw it over.. And how the hell did that get all the way across the room?" She hissed, pointing to the bean bag where Ivy's bikini bottoms were. Ivy's mouth hung open slightly ready to speak, but Willow didn't give her time. "And why the hell are there pillows on the ground. Did you have a damn slumber party?" Her eyes scanned over the spot on the bed next to Ivy, where the indention of a body that was once laying there was. There was even a spot on the pillow where there face had pressed into it.

Willow's eyes shot back to Ivy, and how she was holding her stomach. Everything clicked. "Ivy, did you.." Ivy shot up, wincing slightly. "I didn't do shit!" Willow shook her head in amazement. "I'm not sure what surprises me more. That you _finally_ had sex, or that you're _actually_ trying to lie to me like I don't already know." Ivy glared at the floor in shame. She knew Willow could tell when she was lying. She even guilty for lying, but Willow just didn't understand why she didn't want to tell her..

"Who?" Ivy looked up at Willow. "What?" She whispered. Willow blinked. "Who was it?" Ivy opened her mouth, and then closed it. "Willow, I was drunk, we both were.. It wasn't supposed to.." "_Who!_" Ivy looked away. Willow saw the look on her face, and the last pieces of the puzzle fell into place. "You're _shitting_ me." Ivy looked back at her. "What?" Willow narrowed her eyes. "Raph? _Raphael_, Ivy? Seriously? I thought you hated him!" She was almost yelling.

Ivy stood up straight. "Keep your damn voice down! I don't want Fern or Harper to hear you! Now do you see why I didn't want to tell you?" She almost whispered. Willow saw the look in her green eyes, and sighed. "_Why,_ Ivy?" Ivy walked over to the lamp and yanked up her top, looking at Willow as she walked over to the bean bag. "I already_ told_ you, Willow. We were both drunk." She yanked up the bottoms. Willow shook her head. "Ivy, I've seen you sloppy drunk as fuck and you have never let a guy get past kissing you. So what made him so special?" Ivy threw her bikini into her closet, slamming the door then whipping around to face Willow.

"You know what, Willow? I don't fucking know. I've been asking myself that _same_ damn question since I woke up. I guess it was time for me to grow up. Just drop it, I don't want to talk about it." She opened her bedroom, pointing out for Willow to leave. Willow walked past her, arms still crossed. Ivy followed her out shutting her bedroom door. She grabbed Willow's shoulder and spun her around to face her. "And not a fucking word to anyone, including Harper and Fern, or I'll rip all that pretty brown hair right off your head in one yank. _Got_ it?" She hissed. Willow rolled her eyes and nodded, walking away.

Fern couldn't help but lose her appetite by noticing how awkward breakfast was. Willow nor Ivy were looking at each other. Had something happened when Willow went to wake her? Fern didn't dare ask. After they were done, they both walked off and left their plates sitting at the table. Harper sighed, it was her turn to do breakfast dishes. Fern smiled at her. "I'll help you." Harper looked up at her and returned the smile. "Thanks, Fern. You're the sweetest."

"My sons, today we work on your skills in working as partners." Master Splinter explained. "Donatello, you are with Leonardo. Michelangelo, you will be with Raphael." They nodded, then got into place across the dojo from each other. Master Splinter flicked his tail, giving them the signal to attack. Mikey charged at Donnie, who would be an easier target than Leo. Raph must have thought the same thing because before Mikey got the chance Raph shot in front of him at Donnie.

Mikey didn't get the chance to see how it went, because Leo was in the air coming down right on top of him. Mikey screamed and at last second did a front roll. He spun his leg quickly to knock Leo, but failed when he realized Leo wasn't there anymore. He raised an eyebrow and began to scratch the top of his head in confusion. The next thing he knew his face was being pressed against the mat. "And you'd be dead." Leo hissed, standing to let his younger brother up. Mikey crossed his arms and stuck his tongue at him.

He walked over to sit next to Master Splinter, noticing that Donnie was already sitting with him. Mikey set himself next to his brother and turned to look at the next round of training. It was just Raph and Leo now. Mikey swallowed and turned to Donnie. "Bro.." He began. Donnie shook his head, a look of worry on his face. "This is not a good idea." He whispered back to Mikey, not taking his eyes off his two older brothers. They began to circle each other, their eyes daring the other to make the first move.

Raph, as always, charged first. He yelled as he held his sai up. Leo smirked and waited for him to get close enough, then jumped into the air and landing behind him. Raph's eyes got wide in anger as he spun around. "Think you're so slick, huh? Dodge this, Fearless!" He launched himself at Leo, who again dodged his attacks easily. "The funny thing is, I'm not even trying to make you mad this time. You're doing it all on your own!"

Raph gritted his teeth and leeped into the air at Leo. Leo jumped in the air, then landed right on Raph's shell as he fell to the floor. "Only making my job a lot easier." Leo smirked, then stood up as he placed his katanas back behind him on his shell. Leo turned around and stormed out of the dojo, leaving everyone with jaws dropped and wide eyes. Judging by the looking on his face, Master Splinter could easily tell there was something brewing between Leonardo and Raphael, but he didn't press the matter. He simply excused his youngest sons to bravely enter the now on going battle feild.

"I don't have a temper!" Raphael screamed. Mikey looked at Donnie with a face that said, "Man, here we go again.." Donnie and Mikey headed to the living room and sat on the sofa, turning the TV on and turning the volume up to drown out the fight going on in the kitchen, saddily it didn't work. "How many times have we been through this? _Yes_, you do! You need to get control of it before you hurt something, or yourself!" Leo argued. Raphael shook his head. "No Leo, _you're_ the one who needs to get control of them self before you get hurt." He growled.

Leo narrowed his eyes then violently pointed at Raph. "This is exactly what I'm talking about!" Raphael smirked. "What, does the mighty and powerful not take kindly to threats? Oh well I guess you're just gonna have to meditate on that and get over it." He walked past his brother, ready to get to his room and sleep for a while. He was sick of this same damn conversation with Leo. Almost every day he was giving him some speech about balance and controlling his temper.

"I just don't want you to get hurt." Raphael stopped dead in tracks at Leonardo's words. "_What?_" He whispered. Leo sighed. "I don't want you getting hurt, Raph." His voice was calm now, and not the fake calm he had to force. He was just as sick of Raphael about fighting, but he couldn't just sit back and let his brother dig the same grave he had dug three years ago. Raphael slowly turned around to face his older brother. His expression was blank, it was hard for Leo to tell if he was still angry. So he just blinked and continued.

"I made the mistake of gaining feelings for someone and following those feelings. I know it's hard to ignore it, _trust me_ I know. I'm not saying Ivy is like her, I just want you to be careful. I don't want to see you hurt the way I got hurt. I don't want that for any of you. I'm over her, but it took a long time." He finished, giving his brother a look of pleading for at least some understanding. His hopes for that went right out the window when Raphael narrowed his eyes. "You're lying.." He whispered.

Leo's eyebrows creased. "Excuse me?" Raphael slammed his fist on the table. "You can't even say her damn _name_ Leo! Don't feed me this bullshit that you're over her when you can't even say her _fucking_ name! Damn it Leo, her name is _Karai_!" Leo flinched, making Raph close his eyes and shake his head slowly. After a moment, he opened them back up and calmly looked at Leo. "That's _exactly_ what I'm talking about. So don't try giving me advice about feeling and girl problems when you haven't even solved the problems of your own." With that, he turned around and stalked off to his bedroom.

Ivy say on the left end of the couch by herself. Fern and Harper sat side-by-side in the very middle, Willow on the right end of the couch. They were watching some movie that had something to do with giant spiders taking over New York. Ivy snorted. "Isn't there something better we can watch?" She moaned, laying her head against the back of the couch to show just how bored she really was. Willow rolled her eyes then picked up the remote and began flipping through channels. It was almost ten at night and none of them were tired, but they couldn't leave the aparment.

The first one was Iron Man 2, but none of them seemed interested since they'd all seen it at least seven times together. Mostly because of how hot Robert Downy Jr. is. She flipped to the next channel to see it was Cartoon Network. She scoffed when she saw it was some animated show about a boy and his orange dog that could change shape, grow, and shrink. Kids loved this show, but Willow had no intrest and was pretty sure neither would Ivy, Harper, or Fern. Willow flipped to the next channel to see it was a soap opera. There was a woman with short blonde hair holding onto a dark haired man as they fell onto a bed, taking thier clothes off.

"Hey Ivy, I found something perfect for you." Ivy's head shot up and looked at the screen. She turned to look at Willow who was grinning at her. Ivy's green eyes were blazing, showing just how furious she was now. Harper and Fern shared a confused glance as Willow lifted her shoulders in a teasing shrug and turned to the next channel. It was VH1, showing the Miley Cyrus video of her new song "We Won't Stop." Ivy laughed. "You know, she used to be alright. Then something happened and she went to instant slut." Shr crossed her arms and stared at the TV. Willow laughed as well. "Hmm reminds me of someone." She didn't even look at Ivy, but she saw her shoot her another deathening glare.

Harper noticed what was going on and cleared her throat, ready to change the subject. "When do you think the guys will come back? We haven't heard from any of them all day." Ivy snorted. "They can never come back for all I care." Harper rolled her eyes. "What, did you and Raph get into another fight?" She teased. Before Ivy could reply, Willow replied for her. "Not exactly." Ivy shot up and marched right over to Willow with her fist lifted, ready to knock her out. Her fist was barely a foot above Willow when a phone ringing made everyone freeze.

Fern fumbled through her pockets for a moment before finally pulling out her phone. She smiled when she saw the caller, sliding the screen up to answer. "Hey Mikey!" She greeted. Suddenly all eyes were on her. "Hey Fern, what's up dudette?" Fern began to play with the hem of her pants as she answered. "Oh nothing, just watching TV with Ivy, Willow, and Harper." "Cool, well I was just calling to check up on you guys. Uh.. I mean girls. My bad." Fern giggled. "It's fine." She looked over at Ivy with fearful eyes as she asked the next question. "Do you think you could stop by tonight?" Ivy shot up and threw her hands in the air, showing Fern she was not pleased with the invitation.

"Well.. I can try to after patrol if Leo let's me. He's been a cranky ass all day." Fern looked at Ivy and Willow. "Yeah? He's not the only one. Just uh.. Come in when you get here I guess, if you can." She heard him laugh. "Alright, by babe!" There was a click and the line was disconnected. Fern pulled the phone from her face and stared at it in confusion. Harper saw this and faced her. "What?" She asked. At first Fern didn't answer, but then she finally whispered, "He called me babe."

Mikey smiled as he jumped from the roof he was on to the next one with amazing ease. He may not be the smartest or strongest of his brothers, but he was definitely the fastest. He was extremely quick on his feet. This was sadly one reason in plans and missions he was almost always used as bait, in case it went wrong and he had to book it out of there in less than a few seconds. "You guys gonna keep up?" He called behind himself.

"How many times do we have to tell you, Mikey? This isn't a race." Mikey laughed at Donnie's words. "Yeah, that's something a loser would say." He slowed down to get to the same pace as his brothers, which took great effort. Suddenly Leo stopped over an abandoned apartment building and turned to his brothers. "Alright, it's almost midnight. It seems to be a quiet night, so we can head home now." Mikey took his chance and cleared his throat and stepped forward. Leo raised an eyebrow. "Unless you have other plans?"

Mikey grinned nervously. "Actually yeah.. I was wondering if I could go see Fern for a little bit." Leo paused for a minute, then shook his head. "No, not tonight." Mikey felt his heart drop in extreme disappointment as Raphael scoffed. "Typical, Fearless gets mad at me and takes it out on all of us." Leo shot him a warning look when Donnie chirped in. "Well Leo it would be a good idea to have at least two of us there a night. You know, in case something happens and those assassins find a way to get in. You never know."

Leo shot a glare at him, then paused. He had a point, something could easily happen to the girls while him and his brothers were at home sleeping. He instantly thought about Willow, and finding her laying on the ground twisted and covered in blood. He shook his head in irritation. "Fine, Donnie and Mikey." They both looked at him with hopeful eyes. "Be home before sunrise." Donnie and Mikey both grinned, and then turned around and headed in the direction of the apartments. "Why do they get to go?" Raph asked, pointed his thumb in their direction. Leo narrowed his eyes. "Don't even start, Raph."

Fern sat on her bed and continued to paint her toe nails. She had chosen a pretty orange-pink color that she'd adored her whole life. She began to bob her head side to side to the rhythm of the song playing from her stereo system. It was "Mine" by Taylor Swift. She softly sang along with it, tapping her already painted foot on the carpet. The foot she was painting was placed on her bed, her leg bent as her face rested on it. She was wearing a bright yellow tank top and white shorts.

"Am I interrupting?" Fern jumped, making the brush skid across her entire toe, leaving a large streak of nail polish. She shot her head up to see Mikey gently closing her door behind her. She let out a sigh of relief. "You scared me." She whimpered pathetically. He smiled down at her as he walked to sit in front of her on the bed. He looked down at her toes and laughed. He reached on the ground next to him and picked up the nail polish remover and a tissue. He dipped the tissue in the smelly liquid and began to rub it on her completely colored toe. He looked up at her and grinned nervously. "Sorry 'bout that."

Fern grinned back at him. "It's okay." Once he was finished, he reached his empty hand out. Fern raised an eyebrow, holding up the nail polish brush and bottle. Mikey nodded. She slowly handed them to him, and he took them eagerly. He dipped the brush into the bottle and pulled it out, leaning over her foot to begin painting. "Uh.. Can you even paint toe nails?" She asked, slightly unsure as she stared at his big fingers gripping the small brush handle. He shrugged, sticking his tongue out the side of his mouth while he concentrated. "I dunno, but we're gonna find out."

Fern rolled her eyes. She noticed he began to bob his head side to side like she had earlier and began to sing along with Taylor Swift as she was finishing the last repeat of the chorus. Fern raised an eyebrow. "You sing?" She asked. Mikey smiled slightly. "I sound like Miley Cyrus swallowing an angry cat trying to do screamo, but nice try." Fern giggled. He was right, he really couldn't sing. He was completely out of key and off pitch, and his voice was still scratchy and husky like always. Somehow it was still comforting to hear him sing. Fern settled herself into her bed, hugged her still bent leg.

"Ivy and Willow have been acting weird all day." Mikey looked like he flinched, but he didn't look up at her. "Oh really?" He said cooly. "Yeah. They've just been really mean to each other. It's not like them. Willow is normally the one who is good at dealing with Ivy's temper. Today it was like Willow was the one trying to make Ivy mad." He still didn't look up at her, but continued to focus more on his current task. "How so?" He asked.

Fern shrugged. "I dunno. At breakfast they wouldn't look at or talk to each other, then when we were watching TV Willow was flipping through channels and landed on a soap opera saying it was Ivy's show. Then Miley Cyrus came on TV and Ivy said she turned into a slut, and Willow said that it reminded her of someone. Ivy was about to punch her, but that's when you called." Fern finished right as Mikey finished with her toes. She looked down at them to see they were messy, nail polish sloppily running onto her skin. It looked like a five year old did them. She grinned. "Well, it's a start."

She gently set her foot on the ground, sure not to mess the wet paint up. She looked back over at Mikey who wasn't smiling. "What's wrong?" She asked. He blinked, then shook his head. He pressed a hand to his forehead. "Sorry. Raph and Leo have been he same way all day." Fern cocked her head to the side. "Yeah, but don't they always argue anyway?" Mikey shrugged. "Well yeah, but today was worse. They were really getting into it. It was bad..." His eyes darted away from her, a distant look in them.

Fern gently placed her hand on his bicep. "I'm sorry." She whispered. He looked at her hand, then to her and smiled. Fern smiled back at him, pulling her hand away. "Alright, well as soon as my nail polish dries I'll go into the kitchen and see if theirs any popcorn. Then we can have a slumber party in my room, since last time I was asleep the whole time." She offered. His grin widened. "I'd love that, dudette." He pressed his hands to his stomach and looked down at them, then back to her. "How long do you think till those toes of yours are dry?"

Fern shrugged as she looked at her toes. "Maybe fifteen minutes." Mikey groaned and rolled over on his shell as he let his head hang off the edge of the bed and he set his hands on his knees now bent in the air. He turned to look at her, frowning. "I have to wait that long to eat? I haven't eaten all day!" Fern poked him in the cheek. "I know you had dinner three hours ago, silly. You guys always eat at nine, and then go on patrol. Nice try though. You can't just eat every hour." Mikey sighed. "A turtle can only dream."

Harper ran her small fingers through her dark golden curls and sighed. She was sitting in her room alone listening to music on her stereo. It was playing "Enchanted" by Taylor Swift. Harper used to never listen to the blonde pop singer, but Fern had played her constantly and made Harper grow fond of her music. It was touching, and at least one of her songs you could relate to in some way. Harper sighed again as she lay on her stomach, legs crossed together in the air.

Mikey had called Fern and he was coming over to see her. He was probably already here. Harper blinked slowly. By the sounds of it, Mikey planned on coming alone to see Fern. She silently wished that Donnie had tagged along. It wasn't fair that Fern got to see Mikey again so soon. From the way it was going, it seemed liked Mikey would be coming over every night. She rested her head on one of her empty hands as her elbow rested lightly on her bed.

"This night is sparkling, don't you let it go.. I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home.. I'll spend forever wondering if you knew I was enchanted to meet you.." She sang along. Bordum began to ring at her bones, making her want to jump up and do something. All of them except Fern were extreme night people. Fern would normally be asleep by now, but since Mikey was coming over she'd decided to stay up. Then a question came to Harper's mind.

Did Fern feel the way about Mikey that Harper did of Don? She tried remembering scenes of Mikey and Fern together. Fern always seemed happy, and she'd even blushed a few times. It was hard to tell because that was Fern's natural personality to be shy and blush a lot, but.. Was it possible? Could it be possible that maybe Harper wasn't the only one growing feelings for a turtle? Harper set her head in both hands as she began to think harder.

Donatello was a turtle, that was for sure. It was strange in a way to think about it. If someone had come up to her a month ago telling her she'd have a crush on a turtle two inches taller than her, she'd laugh at them and tell them just how impossible that was. Now, she realized just how possible it really was. He seemed almost like something from a movie, or a comic book. He was real, very real. She'd found that out last night. She smiled slightly and blushed at the thought, images running through her mind.

"Uh, knock knock?" Harper jumped in surprise, and rolled right off her bed with a loud thump as she hit the floor. Her head hit first, making her see stars for a whole of three seconds. She shook her head to clear it and winced, instantly wishing her bed wasn't so far off the ground. She pushed herself into a sitting position slowly as she rubbed the back of her head. She winced again as her hand brushed over the already forming bump that was sure to make her need aspirin by the morning.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Harper's eyes shot open. She was now staring into a pair of worried golden-brown eyes. She almost forgot what air was, until he asked another question. "Are you hurt?" Harper closed one eye on the side of the head she'd gotten the bump as she gave a thumbs up and smiled. "Mostly my pride.. But my head hurts a little too." Donatello instantly wrapped an arm around her, lifting her onto the bed once again. "I'm so sorry.. I'm really bad at not surprising people."

Harper laughed as she shook her head. "I like surprises. It's okay." Donnie nodded, still unsure. He sat next to her as he reached over and grabbed a pillow. "You need to lay down for a few minutes, but no sleep." Harper raised an eyebrow. There was no way she'd hit her head enough to get even a slight concussion. He grinned awkwardly and lifted his shoulders. "Just in case." Harper rolled her eyes and yanked the purple pillow from him. His eyes grew wide as she fluffed it, then layed it across his lap and layed her head down, eyes closed.

After a second he cleared his throat. "Uh, you can't go to sleep yet." Harper groaned, not opening her eyes. "I'm just closing my eyes.." She mumbled as she buried her face deeper into the pillow. Her head was hurting, yes. But she was starting to feel a little tired. She heard him chuckle softly. "Yeah, that's what they all say."

Harper opened her eyes and turned her head to look up at him. "I thought Mikey was the only one coming, what made you decide to?" She asked. He blinked, caught of guard by the question. He smiled and shrugged. "Leo said two of us needed to come watch you guys for the night, so he sent me and Mikey." Harper stared for a moment longer, then added quietly, "Is that the only reason you came?" Donnie's face began to grow hot, mouth opening slightly. "Well, I.. Uh.." He didn't get to finish, he was cut off by a loud beeping sound that made him and Harper's heads jump up.

Fern shook her head. "I don't care what you say, Taylor Swift is my role model." Mikey rolled his eyes at her. "Please, she's a twenty year old with the mentality of a middle school girl!" Fern raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and like you don't too?" Mikey made a face, mocking her. "Actually I'd say I'm closer to a high school boy, thank you very much. I don't write songs because a guy didn't ask me out." Fern looked away and shrugged, smiling slightly. "Yeah, well I don't know that. You might."

Mikey crossed his arms in annoyance. "Oh please, do I look like the kind of turtle that writes?" He asked sarcastically. Fern smile sweetly. "No, you're right. But you do look like the kind of turtle who's about to fall off the bed." Mikey looked at her in confusion. He wasn't anywhere near the edge of the.. The next thing he knew he landed on the ground. He shook his head and looked up at a giggling Fern who was pulling herself back into the sitting position she had been in.

"You little.." He jumped off the ground and landed right on top of her, and began to tickle her. She began a laughing and screaming fit, tears forming in her eyes. Mikey just grinned at this. "Here comes the tickle monster!" He yelled. He smiled as she began to laugh harder, when suddenly he froze. There was an extremely loud beeping noise, making him flinch at the pain to his hearing. Fern's eyes grew wide with fear as she looked up at him. "The alarm.." She whispered. Instantly Mikey understood. He quickly pulled out his shell cell and typed in a number. After two rings, someone answered. "Leo! You and Raph need to get here, like now. The alarm just went off."

Ivy sat on the kitchen counter as she talked to Willow. "Do you get what I'm try to say?" Ivy smiled sarcastically at Willow's words. "Don't I always?" Willow crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Now's not the time, Ivy. Really. You messed up_ big_ time, and you know it." Ivy jumped off the counter to stand right in front of the brunette. "Oh really? Why don't you tell me Willow, what did I do that was so_ horribly_ wrong? You along with your sister and Fern have bothered me about when I would finally lose it, well I lost it. So what's the problem?"

Willow gritted her teeth. "The problem is you've barely known him for _two_ weeks. What about Bobby? You'd known him for two years and you were sloppy drunk yet you still told him no! Not to mention Raph is a turtle, Ivy. Doesn't that matter to you?" Ivy clenched her fists, trying her hardest to hold it in and not knock Willow in the face. "I swear I'm going to..." She didn't finish. Instead she spun around and walked to the living room.

Willow followed after her and saw she was heading to the front door. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" She asked. Ivy swung the door open and turned to glare at her. "Don't fucking worry about it. Okay? You're in my business too much right now as it is." Willow shook her head. "Ivy, you know it's too dangerous!" Ivy laughed, a sarcastic laugh. "You really think I_ care_, Miss Priss? Cause I don't. Right now,_ I'm_ the one that's dangerous. So stay the _fuck_ out of my way." With that, she slammed the door behind her.

Willow didn't even bother running after her. It would be pointless. It would only make Ivy more pissed. Willow closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. After standing like that for a moment, she turned around and began to head down the hall to her bedroom. She opened her door and shut it behind her, then threw herself onto her bed. She grabbed a pillow and shoved her head into it as she screamed at the top of her lungs. She paused, then lifted her head. There was a loud beeping going off through the house which was obviously the alarm system.

Mikey sat with Fern on her bed with his arms wrapped around her, rocking her back in forth as she began to shake violently. "It's gonna be okay, babe.." He whispered as he ran his fingers through her dark red hair. Fern didn't reply, she just stared straight ahead with wide, fearful eyes. Mikey felt pity to her, and extreme protectiveness. "I won't let anything hurt you." He tried calming her down, but it didn't work. She only began to shake more. He frowned. "Why are you so upset? I mean other than the fact the alarm went off."

Fern looked up at him, her grey eyes wide and wet. "I.. I don't want anyone to get hurt." She whispered between sobs. Mikey smiled reassuringly. "No one's gonna get hurt." Fern shook her head. "You can't promise me that, you don't know that you'll be okay.." Mikey chuckled. "Babe, you have no idea all the shit me and my brothers have been through. It would take a lot more than just a few assassins to hurt us." Fern sniffled. "And what about my sisters?" Mikey smiled sweetly down at her. "We won't let anyone hurt them either, trust me."

Fern's door flew open and both her and Mikey jumped. Leo stood in the doorway. "Get to the living room, now." They both stood and followed the eldest brother. In the living room stood Raphael with his arms crossed. Willow was pacing back and fourth with a worried look on her face. Donnie was sitting on the couch with Harper wrapped safely in his arms. Fern knew that later one she was going to be asking Harper about that, but now wasn't the time.

"So what was it?" Mikey asked. Leo pointed to the window that was the back wall of the kitchen, a hole shattered in it about the size of a beach ball, then to a rock about as big as a baseball in the middle of the living room. Mikey put his hands on his hips. "Yeah, a rock through the window'll do it. I guess we didn't need to call you." He said awkwardly. Leo opened his mouth to say something, but Donnie interrupted him as he stood to examine the rock.

"Actually, I'm not so sure about that.." He began as he lifted the rock in his hands. He turned it over as he made a face to show his confusion. Suddenly his eyes grew wide. "What is it?" Leo asked. Donnie stared up at him. "No one was trying to break in. That's the exact opposite of what they wanted." Leo crossed his arms. "Okay, so what did they want then?" He asked impatiently. Donnie swallowed. "Distraction." Everyone paused for a second, unsure of what he meant.

"Where the hell is Ivy?" Raphael's gruff voice broke the confused silence. Everyone began looking around the room, most of them just realizing she was missing. Willow's heart almost stopped. "Oh God, Ivy.." Raphael narrowed his eyes. "Where is she?" He growled. Willow blinked as she stared at the floor in horror. "She.. Me and her got into an argument. She got mad and left to go blow off steam.." Raphael gritted his teeth.

"She left?!" Willow buried her face in her hands, fighting back tears. "Oh God, I should have gone after her.. I shouldn't have let her leave like that, I knew it was too dangerous.. If anything happens to her, I'll never forgive myself.." She was sobbing almost pathetically. Leo wrapped a comforting arm around her. "This isn't your fault. We're gonna find her." He looked up at his brothers. "Mikey and Donnie, you're coming with me. Raph, you stay and-" "Oh hell no. I'm going out there to look for her."

Without waiting for his brother to argue, he flew out the front door as his trench coat flopped behind him. Leo sighed. "Okay, Mikey and Donnie, you can both stay here. I think me and Raph can handle it." He looked down at Willow one last time. He lifted her chin to make her look him in the eyes. Her eyes were red and tears were falling down her cheeks. "We're going to find her." He whispered. "And that's a promise." He turned to leave, opening the front door. "Leonardo.." He turned around to look at her. Willow sniffled as she forced a smile. "Bring back my best friend." Leo nodded once, then he was gone.


End file.
